Etymology is the study of the origins of words and how their usage has changed over time. It's every bit the serious academic discipline you might expect it to be — except when it's not. As it turns ...

It’s not often that the worlds of lexicography and technology collide, but in a video by the etymologist [RobWords] we may have found a rare example. In a fascinating 16-minute video he takes us ...

From linguist Liberman (Take My Word for It) comes a playful foray into the elusive origins of words. Hunting for each term’s antecedents, Liberman wends his way through many eras of history: for ...

If you’re going to study words, this is a word you need to know. Some study words, some study insects. Learn the word you need to know if your interests lie with the origin and evolution of words.

According to data from the U.S. Department of Education, 54 percent of adults, nearly 130 million people, aged 16 to 74 lack literacy proficiency, reading below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level.

Detail from Tacuinum Sanitatis, a 14th-century handbook of medieval health. The naming process, the act of naming the items of the world, is as old as the first words spoken by our ancestors. We can ...