by Taneesh Khera Black English has a rich history that touches on everything from linguistics to literature to music—and, of course, the words we speak each and every day. Black English is also known as African American Vernacular English (AAVE), among other names, as discussed in the extensive historical usage note at its entry. This form of English is as complex, of course, as standard …
Indigenous Peoples’ Day and Columbus Day are observed on the same day each year (the second Monday in October), but they aren’t simply different names for the same holiday. They’re two separate observances with different origins. Recently, the observance of Columbus Day has increasingly been replaced with Indigenous Peoples’ Day, including on the official calendars of many state governments, schools, businesses, and other organizations. There …
’Tis the time of colorful foliage, crisp air, the first frost, and pumpkin spice. It’s many people’s favorite season—and it’s the only one with more than one commonly used name. But what to call it—autumn or fall? And what came first? Prepare for the dawn of sweater weather with some insights into the origins of fall and autumn—and another, even older name for the season. The …
by Alyssa Pereira From boxes on census forms to drop-down menus on job applications, we often see Hispanic and Latino positioned side by side, seemingly as interchangeable terms to describe the race and heritage of a population that makes up nearly 20% of the United States. It’s easy to see why these two words are so often conflated and frequently confused. But Hispanic and Latino …
Language is a living thing, and so is Dictionary.com. Our dictionary will always be a work in progress—there’s no day in the future when we’ll mark it “complete” after adding the last word. This never-ending work is the job of our lexicographers, the (amazingly talented) people who write and edit the dictionary. They do more than just add and define words. They also add new …
Doomsday is one of those evocative words that paint a very vivid picture. We define doomsday: “the day of the Last Judgment, at the end of the world; nuclear destruction of the world; given to or marked by forebodings or predictions of impending calamity; especially concerned with or predicting future universal destruction.” As you can see, it’s about as bottom-line as it can get. Other words associated …
Listen up, everyone: we know you all have questions, so let’s talk about the terms guys and you guys. You may be asking if there are any good substitutes for such useful terms. The answer is yes, and we have suggestions for each and every one of you. (Including some that we just used without y’all even noticing it). For years, the term guys and expressions …
![List of words in outlined font, with central word in bold white font, on lilac background: “Janus word, buzzword, cussword, counterword [in bold], weasel word, nonce word, codeword"](https://www.dictionary.com/e/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/20220428_counterWords_800x800-380x380.png)
We love all kinds of words: big words, small words, words with silent vowels, and even the word moist. With that in mind, we wanted to find words that feature the word word in them. Without getting too wordy, we managed to find words like foreword, afterword, and doubleword that fit our criterion of being a word with the word word in the word. Being …
Can you really name your baby that?! Picking a baby name that everyone (from grandma to the grocery clerk) likes can be a fruitless, futile endeavor. Coming up with one that confounds the whole world is seemingly a lot easier. Take Elon Musk, chief of Tesla and SpaceX, and singer Grimes, who recently announced the birth of their daughter, Exa Dark Sideræl, or “Y” for …
by Rory Gory | updated by John Kelly, senior research editor at Dictionary.com There are many stigmas and misconceptions surrounding mental illness, but it’s quite common to experience it. Nearly one in five US adults live with a mental illness, translating to about 46.6 million people as of 2017. Whether or not you live with a mental illness, mental health is something that all of …
They say an elephant never forgets. In more than 60 years, the world’s leading conservation organization—World Wildlife Fund (WWF)—has never forgotten the elephant. And neither should we. In honor of World Elephant Day 2020, Dictionary.com teamed up with WWF to go behind the scenes and share new words relating to this type of pachyderm (a fun word that refers to very large mammals with thick …
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, …