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Interesting Words
Okay, so we were asked in class to look up for interesting words with interesting etymologies(word origins). We have to find 30 and I've only managed to find 12.
What are some interesting, unfamiliar words and are there sites that I can visit?
Thanks in advance!
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A word I love is discombobulated. It's very effective for describing feeling out of sorts for no particular reason. Very English.
I've attached a website with the origins and meanings of this word.
[Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
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The word "posse" might not be so special, but I think its etymology is pretty interesting.
It cane from the Latin word "posse", which means "to be able".
Now, "posse" in English refers to a group of people, which can either be a search party or just a group of friends. Either way, it doesn't have anything to do with being able. "Posse" in this sense came from a shortening of "posse comitatus" ("comitatus" means "county"), which referred to a community police force.
If this is for a class, "glamour" might be a good one. Did you know that the word "glamour" is etymologically related to "grammar"? "Grammar" came from the Greek word "gramma", which means "letter". It later on came to mean "learning", including magic, and the spelling for the word in this sense changed to "glamour", while "grammar" retained its original meaning of "learning".
These came from "Words of a Feather". Look at the website, it has a blog with more interesting ones.
[Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
The Online Etymology Dictionary is a good site for English etymology, so you might want to take a look there too. [Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
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How about checking out the "List of 100 words every high school graduate should know"? There are lots of neat ones there.
My favourite? Bowdlerize.
Another one that I love is Gerrymander (I don't think it's on the list, though).
Here's the link:
[Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
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I can give you one with an interesting origin. You might have it on your list already.
Sophomore.
It means wise fool in latin or greek.
And then here's a website you can use: [Link](Mouse over link to see full location) You'll find countless words there.
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