As the saying goes, there are only two certainties in life: death and taxes. This saying dates all the way back to 1716, and the word tax is even older than that. Tax, meaning “a sum of money demanded by a government,” comes from the Latin taxare, meaning “censure, charge, tax with a fault,” and dates to around the 1200s. For centuries, taxes have been …
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 …
Every year since 1986, the United States has observed Martin Luther King Jr. Day on the third Monday in January. The national holiday honors a man who not only was an inspirational civil rights activist during the 1960s, but also one of the greatest orators of our time. King wrote five books during his lifetime, and at one point was estimated to deliver up to …
Turkey is the traditional star of the Thanksgiving meal, but among its essential supporting cast is one dish whose name is debated every year. Is it called stuffing or dressing? Are these two words interchangeable? Or do they actually refer to different things altogether? Pull up a chair as we explain the difference between these words as well as their overlap and origins—and the other …
Building a dictionary is the work of lexicographers, the people who write and edit dictionary entries. Samuel Johnson, for example, published A Dictionary of the English Language in 1755 and is often heralded as the father of English lexicography. As you might guess, however, the work of building and maintaining a dictionary requires large teams of dedicated individuals who are passionate about language—and many of …
Ableist language doesn’t only consist of slurs. It comes in many forms, including some so familiar that you may have never stopped to think about their origins or implications. The term ableist language has two definitions in this dictionary, accounting for the different things it can refer to: words and phrases that devalue disabled people by using disability language or historical descriptions of disabilities as …
Self-coup, latine, rage farming, petfluencer, nearlywed, hellscape, talmbout, cakeage. Explore the explosive variety of new terms and meanings just added to Dictionary.com. by Nick Norlen, Senior Editor Historically significant moments. Stunningly advanced AI. Very expensive eggs. There is a lot happening out there, seeming as if it’s everything, everywhere, all at once. The events are relentless, but so is the pace with which language adapts …
Some of the traditional ways of talking about adoption may seem neutral or harmless, but many once widely used terms are now avoided due to carrying negative implications or associations. Taking time to understand and consider these implications is especially important at a time when many discussions and depictions of adoption are criticized for minimizing the perspectives and experiences of children awaiting adoption and people …
Is it better to have wisdom or knowledge? Can you have one without the other? And which comes first? If you’ve ever searched for acumen into these two brainy terms, we’re here to help break them down. Wisdom and knowledge have quite a bit in common. Both words are primarily used as nouns that are related to learning. They’re listed as synonyms for one another …
Maybe you’ve heard the terms ethics and morals and wondered what the difference is. Is a moral precept the same as an ethical code? A lot of people think of them as being the same thing. While they’re closely related concepts, morals refer mainly to guiding principles, and ethics refer to specific rules and actions, or behaviors. In this article, we’ll explain the subtle differences between …
Ever heard of typoglycemia? Even if you haven’t, chances are you’ll recognize one of the viral puzzles used to demonstrate the phenomenon. Starting around 2003, an email began to circulate claiming that scrambled English words are just as easy to read as the original words. However, as interesting as the original email was, it didn’t actually tell the whole truth. There’s more to scrambled words than …
