Words & Where They Come From
Ten questions on how language is put together, each with the origin or the plain-English translation of the term.
About this topic
Most language knowledge arrives informally, which leaves people fluent in the thing but unfamiliar with its vocabulary. This quiz supplies the missing names: the word for a word that reads the same backwards, the word for a word that imitates a sound, the family English actually belongs to. It also covers scripts and borrowings, since almost no language stayed sealed off from its neighbours. The explanations give the root and the reason, which usually makes the term self-evident afterwards.
Frequently Asked Questions
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