Falling in love is awesome. Every look, touch, and word they say fills you with anticipation. You feel swept up, full of hope and desire. It's just magical. Falling out of love... well... not so much. Sometimes, falling out love happens as a slow…

The noun travesty, which current evidence dates to the 17th century, comes from the French verb travestir, meaning 'to disguise.' The word's roots, however, wind back through Italian to the Latin verb

Pugnacious individuals are often looking for a fight. While unpleasant, at least their fists are packing an etymological punch. Pugnacious comes from the Latin verb pugnare (meaning 'to fight'), which

The word abbreviation sure is long for what it means. There are a lot of terms we use on a daily basis that have a very specific meaning attached to them. We used a technique [...]

You probably won't be surprised to learn that exponent shares an ancestor with proponent—and indeed, the Latin ponere ('to put') is at the root of both terms. Exponent descends from exponere, which

Finesse was a noun for more than 300 years before it became a verb. In the 15th century the noun finesse was used to refer to refinement or delicacy of workmanship, structure, or texture. During the

Warren G. Harding is often linked to bloviate, but to him the word wasn't insulting; it simply meant 'to spend time idly.' Harding used the word often in that 'hanging around' sense, but during his

BOOM! This worksheet is full of all kinds of sound-based words, from creaks to squeaks.

Gravid comes from Latin gravis, meaning 'heavy.' It can refer to a female who is literally pregnant, and it also has the figurative meanings of pregnant: 'full or teeming' and 'meaningful.' Thus, a

If you're solicitous about learning the connections between words, you'll surely want to know about the relationship between solicitous and another word you've probably heard before—solicit.

Wifty is a synonym of ditzy. And, like ditzy, its origins remain unknown. The earliest print evidence of wifty goes back to the early 20th century, though the word was certainly being used in spoken

Shall I? Shall I? When you just don't know what to do, it may feel as if asking that question twice will somehow help you decide. The 17th century saw the use of the phrase 'stand shall I, shall I' to

Unlike its meanings, there's nothing terribly sticky about the origin and use of mucilaginous. Like thousands of other words in the English language, mucilaginous (and the noun mucilage) oozed out of

Extemporaneous, which comes from Latin ex tempore ('out of the time'), joined the English language sometime in the mid-17th century. The word impromptu was improvised soon after that. In general usage

Instauration first appeared in English in the early 16th century, a product of the Latin verb instaurare, meaning 'to renew or restore.' This same source gave us our verb store, by way of Middle

You may recognize the word laud (meaning 'to praise or extol') in belaud. In fact, belaud was formed by combining the prefix be- and the verb laud. Since be- can denote both 'to a greater degree' and

Redolent traces back to the Latin verb olēre ('to smell') and is a relative of olfactory ('of, relating to, or connected with the sense of smell'). In its earliest English uses in the 15th century,

Osculate comes from the Latin noun osculum, meaning 'kiss' or 'little mouth.' It was included in a dictionary of 'hard' words in 1656, but we have no evidence that anyone actually used it until the

When you're one of the herd, it's tough to avoid being social. The etymology of gregarious reflects the social nature of the flock; in fact, the word grew out of the Latin noun grex, meaning 'herd' or

Preternatural derives from the Latin phrase praeter naturam, which means 'beyond nature.' Medieval Latin scholars rendered the term as praeternaturalis, and that form inspired the modern English

Geoffrey Chaucer was one of the earliest writers to amuse the reading public with the verb disport. Chaucer and his contemporaries carried the word into English from Anglo-French, adapting it from

Uncouth comes from the Old English word uncūth, which joins the prefix un- with cūth, meaning 'familiar' or 'known.' How did a word that meant 'unfamiliar' come to mean 'outlandish,' 'rugged,' or '

Irrupt and erupt have existed side-by-side since the former entered the English language in the 1800s (erupt had been a part of the language for over two centuries at that point). Both are descendants

Parlous is both a synonym and a derivative of perilous; it came to be as an alteration of perilous in Middle English. (Perilous is derived from the Anglo-French perilleus, which ultimately comes from

Vituperate has several close synonyms, including berate and revile. Berate usually refers to scolding that is drawn out and abusive. Revile means to attack or criticize in a way prompted by anger or

Variegated has been adding color to our language since the 17th century. It is used in botany to describe the presence of two or more colors in the leaves, petals, or other parts of plants, and it

Nebulous comes from the Latin word nebulosus, meaning 'misty,' which in turn comes from nebula, meaning 'mist,' 'fog,' or 'cloud.' In the 18th century, English speakers borrowed nebula and gave it a

Juneteenth, a holiday observed in the United States on June 19 in commemoration of the end of slavery, has several other names as well, including Juneteenth National Independence Day, Freedom Day,