Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Linguist Gareth Roberts joins WIRED to answer the internet's burning questions about the etymologies of English words. How did the ...

They're known as man's best friends, fur babies, pooches. But the most widely used word for these beloved animals — "dog" — is also a great linguistic mystery. "The most everyday, commonplace words ...

Even if you’re not a full-blown grammar nerd, you’ll find the origins of these words that changed meaning over time completely fascinating The English language is alive—and like any living thing, it ...

The Oxford English Dictionary is a living document that has been growing and changing for 140 years. Far more than a convenient place to look up words and their origins, the Oxford English Dictionary ...

Over 1.5 billion people worldwide learn English today, according to the British Council. Vocabulary searches like “word of the day meaning” and “English vocabulary definition” keep rising online.

Word of the Day: Gargantuan - This word has a delightfully literary origin. It comes from Gargantua, the giant king in François Rabelais' 16th-century satirical novel Gargantua and Pantagruel (1534).