205: double v Jul 1, 2015

Going along with yesterday's word. 'savvy', here is a list of English words that have a double 'v', many of which are informal terms. The point of the double 'v' is to retain the proceeding vowel as short.
Chivvy– means “to try and make somebody do something quickly
Civvy– is a slang term referring to a civilian.
Flivver– is an outdated American slang term used for a small car that gave a rough ride.
Divvy– often "divvy up", this is a slang term meaning “to divide”.
Navvy– is an employed person who deos hard physical work.
Revved– is a derived form of “rev”
Savvy– means “having practical knowledge of something”.
Skivvy– in British English, “skivvy” is an informal term for a servant who does a boring job but in North America, it is an informal term for underwear.

204: savvy Jun 30, 2015

Savvy was onomatopoetic, derives from the word 'sabi' which is originally from a few pidgin English and creole languages, and this was one of the few words to derive from pidgin English. The word 'sabi' was an imitation of the Spanish phrase 'sabe usted' which means ‘you know’ or 'they know'.

203: terrific Jun 29, 2015

'Terrific' generally is used for positive things to express how grandness and excellence. This, however, was not always the case: the word comes from the Latin, 'terrere' meaning "to frighten", and is related to the words, 'terror', and 'terrible'.

202: pride Jun 28, 2015

The word 'pride' comes from the late Old English word 'prȳde' meaning ‘excessive self-esteem’. 'Pride', as it may sound, derives from the Old English, 'prūd' which means, ‘having a high opinion of one's own worth,’ or more simply 'proud'.

201: Awful Jun 27, 2015

'Awful' did not always have the connotation it does today. Originally, 'awful' meant "awe inspiring", which in essence brought about a feeling of both wonderment and fear. Now, the term 'awful' connotes something bad or unpleasant. Where the meaning is retained from the archaic sense is in the adverb of 'awfully'.

200: sweet-sixteen Jun 26, 2015

Which came first, the term "sweet sixteen" or the debutant ball itself‽ The name did. The term is used to express the age of a now-mature-enough-to-marry girl, not the party itself. Now that there is far more freedom to be had for teenaged girls, and the practice of a girl having her first debutant ball at 16 dispelled, it is the party one has, which has gained the title "sweet sixteen".

199: gif Jun 25, 2015

'GIF', which is pronounced with the choice /ˈdʒɪf/ or /ˈɡɪf/ depending on the speaker–so everyone can stop arguing you are all correct– stands for "graphic interchange format". This word was created in the 1980's, but because the technology was so underdeveloped by our standards today, that not many saw nor discussed GIF's until the time around 2010.

198: chap Jun 24, 2015

Many words break down and change meaning over time, especially informal terms. Chap–a commonly used informal word in Britain–comes from another English word, 'chapman' which was the old term for a peddler. That word, in turn, comes from the Old English, 'cēapman', from 'cēap' meaning ‘bargaining, trade’, and is related to the Modern English word 'cheap'.

197: Ejaculate (Sherlock Holmes) Jun 23, 2015

Everyone knows all too well the verbal use of 'ejaculate' in sexual contexts. Another use of this word, however, is also used to mean "to say something quickly and suddenly". In Sherlock Holmes, this word was used 23 times, such as in the passage:
"So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of shag which I had seen upon the previous night."
Additionally, the character of Mrs. St. Clair’s husband, "ejaculates at her from a second-floor window".

196: Tobacco Marijuana and Cocaine Jun 22, 2015

The words 'tobacco' and 'marijuana' and 'cocaine' are all Spanish words. From this lexical observation, it might seem that the Spanish were using a lot of drugs, but all of these drugs come from plants in the Americas, and it was simply the Spanish explorers that were the first Europeans to discover them.

195: heroin and heroine Jun 21, 2015

The words 'heroin' and 'heroine' look and sound awfully similar, which can lead to a few awkward situations. The word 'heroin' comes from the German word 'heroin', which derives from Latin 'heros', and both [the German and Latin] mean ‘hero’. The drug was named such because of its effects on the user's self-esteem.

194: Revolt versus Revolting Jun 20, 2015

Revolt, as in "rise in rebellion", and revolting as in "causing a feeling of disgust" come from the same word. This may seem self evident, but at first glance these words do not seem to mean very similar things. The reason for that is that there are many more uses of this word that have fallen out of fashion: there is a sense of revolt that means "feel disgust", such as "she revolts from the pungent fish", but that sense is archaic.

193: Hanged versus Hung Jun 19, 2015

'Hanged' and 'hung' seem to both mean the same thing. They are both the past tense and past participle of 'hang'. The difference is that 'hung' is used for most senses of the verb, whilst 'hanged' is only used to mean "put to death by hanging".

192: Pardon Jun 18, 2015

Often archaic or other uses of any given word die-out over time. The exist, however, in specific phrases, for longer. 'Pardon' in a historical or historical Christian Church usage means "an indulgence". No one much uses the word 'pardon' in this way any more, except in the phrase, "beg your pardon".

191: concert Jun 17, 2015

The word 'concert' comes from the late 16th century in the sense to unite, cause to agree. It derives from from Italian 'concertare' meaning ‘harmonize.’ The noun use, dating from the early 17th century in the sense of a combination of voices or sounds, from Italian concerto, from 'concertare'. Much musical, especially orchestral, vernacular derives from the Italian language.

190: For- Jun 16, 2015

'For-' is a very versatile prefix, with three different uses
1 denoting prohibition : forbid.
2 denoting abstention, neglect, or renunciation: : forgive, forget, forgo.
3 denoting extremity of negative state expressed : forlorn, forsake.

189: pacific Jun 15, 2015

Even though a lot of WWII was fought in the Pacific, the word comes from Latin 'pacificus' which means ‘peacemaking,’. The years during the war made this word ironic, but the pacific islands are generally very nice, such as Hawai'i having the little extreme weather and fewest natural disasters of an state in the United States.

188: attest and detest Jun 14, 2015

Most often words that look similar and sound similar are related. The words 'attest' and 'detest' are similar in sound and appearance, and vaguely similar in meaning today, but were especially similar when created in Latin. The word 'attest' comes 'ad-' meaning ‘to’ and 'testari' meaning ‘to witness' (think 'testify'); and the word 'detest' derives from 'de-' meaning ‘down’ and 'testari', and both words ultimately come from the word 'testis' which means ‘a witness’ in Latin. The meaning of these words (with exception to testify) have changed very much from their once legal senses to the modern understanding.

187: sabbath Jun 13, 2015

The Sabbath ultimately derives from the Hebrew 'šabbā t' , from 'šā b a t' meaning ‘to rest.’ The Latin for the Sabbath is, 'sabbatum' and is related to the word where seven comes from. A sabbatical comes once every seven years, as opposed to just seven days, but it comes from the Greek word, 'sabbatikos' meaning "of the Sabbath".

186: jinx Jun 12, 2015

The fear of jinxing something is felt by many people, superstitious or not at this point in time. The word 'jinx' is an early 20th century word of U.S. origin; and is probably a variant spelling of jynx [wryneck], which is an Old World bird of the woodpecker family, with brown camouflaged plumage and a habit of twisting and writhing the neck when disturbed. The correlation between this bird and the modern understanding of jinx may seem nonexistent, but this bird was used in witchcraft.