Word-Origin Wednesday

Word-Origin Wednesday

Word-Origin Wednesday is the weekly podcast that walks you through a word origin in five minutes or less.

Episodes

Ghost and Ghoul (Word-Origin Wednesday)

October 30, 2019 • 4 mins
"Ghost" is a pretty old word. "Ghoul," as an English word, not so much.
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October (Word-Origin Wednesday)

October 23, 2019 • 2 mins
The names of "October" and a few other months make a lot more sense if we look at Latin and the Roman calendar.
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Sympathy (Word-Origin Wednesday)

October 16, 2019 • 4 mins
The everyday meaning of "sympathy" has shifted over the years, but it's always had some connection to its Latin and Greek roots.
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Hysterical (Word-Origin Wednesday)

October 9, 2019 • 4 mins
Before it entered everyday English, "hysterical" was medical Latin.
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Autumn and Fall (Word-Origin Wednesday)

October 2, 2019 • 4 mins
Do you say "autumn" or "fall" to describe the season between summer and winter? Get the lowdown on the history of both words.
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Dead Duck (Word-Origin Wednesday)

September 25, 2019 • 3 mins
"Dead" and "duck" go way back, but the term "dead duck" is only a couple of centuries old.
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Landlubber (Word-Origin Wednesday)

September 18, 2019 • 3 mins
The often miswritten and mispronounced "landlubber" goes back a few centuries.
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Nice (Word-Origin Wednesday)

September 11, 2019 • 3 mins
"Nice" has had at least a dozen definitions over the last few centuries.
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Peruse (Word-Origin Wednesday)

September 4, 2019 • 4 mins
The Modern English "peruse" came from the Middle English "peruse" . . . or maybe it came from French.
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Factory And Manufacturing (Word-Origin Wednesday)

August 28, 2019 • 4 mins
With Labor Day approaching, let's look at "factory" and "manufacturing." They were both borrowed from Latin.
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Escalate (Word-Origin Wednesday)

August 21, 2019 • 4 mins
"Escalate" is fairly new word, and the current definition has been around since just the 1950s.
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Put Up Your Dukes (Word-Origin Wednesday)

August 14, 2019 • 3 mins
"Put up your dukes," which has been around since at least the 1800s, is one example of Cockney rhyming slang.
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Nickname (Word-Origin Wednesday)

August 7, 2019 • 4 mins
The transition from "ekename" to "nickname" is a fine demonstration of the transition from Middle English to Modern English.
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Posh (Word-Origin Wednesday)

July 31, 2019 • 5 mins
"Posh," as it is used today, first appeared in print a little more than a century ago. But where did it come from?
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Karaoke (Word-Origin Wednesday)

July 24, 2019 • 3 mins
It took several languages to bring "karaoke" to English in the 1970s.
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Honeymoon (Word-Origin Wednesday)

July 17, 2019 • 3 mins
"Honey" and "moon" are very old. "Honeymoon" is relatively new, meaning it's a mere 500 years old.
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Aioli (Word-Origin Wednesday)

July 10, 2019 • 2 mins
"Aioli" comes from French, as do the words for many prepared foods.
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Mascara (Word-Origin Wednesday)

July 3, 2019 • 3 mins
"Mascara" is linked to many words from many languages, many of which go back centuries before commercially available mascara hit store shelves.
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Liar (Word-Origin Wednesday)

June 26, 2019 • 3 mins
The word "liar" goes way back. As it turns out, people have been lying for a long time.
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Salary (Word-Origin Wednesday)

June 19, 2019 • 2 mins
"Salary" is related to something in your kitchen, and it's not celery.
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