by Rory Gory Many people are raised to believe that gender and sex are the same thing, and that there are two options available to us: male or female. But neither sex nor gender is inherently binary—the belief that people must be classified into one of these two categories. When something can’t be placed in two boxes, we call it nonbinary, meaning “not consisting of, …
By Jane Solomon The word influencer has been used in English since the mid-1600s, though of course back then it wasn’t a job title. In recent years, the term has become a catch-all for a certain kind of career track that is at the center of a burgeoning but profitable industry. As influencer continues to expand in English and pull new terms and meanings into …
by Min Straussman June is Pride Month in the United States and around the world. Pride, formerly known as Gay Pride, is a recognition of LGBTQ identity, affirmation of equal rights, and celebration of visibility, dignity, and diversity in the LGBTQ community. During Pride Month, communities hold marches and other events to raise awareness about LGBTQ issues such as transphobia (anti-transgender) and workplace discrimination. Pride Month …
You’ve probably seen the hashtags on TikTok: cottagecore, royalcore, normcore. It’s clear they’re associated with a specific aesthetic and that people are major fans, but what’s the deal with every social trend suddenly getting its own unique -core name? Fandoms naming themselves isn’t a new thing—just ask Taylor Swift’s Swifties or Beyonce’s Beyhive. But the -core trend takes the idea of fandom and applies it …
What’s the origin of nice? Nice, it turns out, began as a negative term derived from the Latin nescius, meaning “unaware, ignorant.” This sense of “ignorant” was carried over into English when the word was first borrowed (via French) in the early 1300s. And for almost a century, nice was used to characterize a “stupid, ignorant, or foolish” person. Starting in the late 1300s, nice began …
Do you call it a sub? A grinder? A hoagie? A poor boy? That all depends on where you live. The Dictionary of American Regional English has been more than 40 years in the making. In the early 60s, lexicographers and linguists led by the University of Wisconsin at Madison sprawled all over the country in search of unique words. They found zin-zins (a duck …
The words homogeneous and heterogeneous are often used in scientific contexts to describe kinds of mixtures, but they can be also used in other ways, such as to describe groups of people. But what do they actually mean, and what is the difference? In this article, we’ll define homogeneous and heterogeneous, break down the differences between them, and provide some examples of the different things …
![List of words in outlined font, with central word in bold teal font, on light teal background: “dwarfism, dwarf, little people, little person [in bold], people of short stature, short statured people"](https://www.dictionary.com/e/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/20220510_littlePerson_800x800-380x380.png)
Most people are familiar with the use of the term little people in reference to people who have dwarfism—people whose short stature is the result of a medical or genetic condition. But it’s not the only term. In this article, we’ll note the range of terms and preferences and explain some of the notable reasons behind these preferences. Content warning: The end of this article …
During the month of Ramadan, followers of Islam around the world partake in fasting. No food or drink is consumed during the daylight hours for 30 straight days. People who partake are far from alone. In fact, fasting plays an important role in many religions, as well as in diets and forms of protest. Regardless of the purpose, there’s a couple of questions that relate …
