It’s a very satisfying thing to learn that there’s a word for an experience you didn’t know could be described by a word. Learning that, for example, clinomania is an “excessive desire to stay in bed” ...

A shibboleth is a word or custom that identifies members of a group. Originally from an ancient Hebrew story, it now includes slogans, beliefs, and habits. These markers help people recognize shared ...

Word of the day: Onomatopoeia means a word that imitates real sound. Words like buzz, crash, boom, and whisper copy natural noise. Writers use this literary device to create sound imagery and stronger ...

In an era of rapid-fire ‘Thx’ and automated email replies, let's look back at a word that carries the weight of genuine ...

Word of the Day: Gargantuan - This word has a delightfully literary origin. It comes from Gargantua, the giant king in François Rabelais' 16th-century satirical novel Gargantua and Pantagruel (1534).

Thanks to the evolution of language, technology, and lots of hyperbole, these words used to convey a lot more merit, emotion, or simply seriousness than they do nowadays. Ah, “genius.” Once reserved ...

Children learn language effortlessly and completely voluntarily. They learn new words miraculously fast. A teenager masters about 60,000 words of their mother tongue by the time they finish high ...