Vocabulary

The Dolch List: 220 Words You Need to Read

The Dolch List consists of 220 high-frequency "sight words" that comprise up to 75% of all juvenile reading material. This…

1 week ago

Macaronic Verse: Medieval Bilingual Humor

Long before Spanglish or modern code-switching, medieval monks and rebellious scholars created "Macaronic Verse"—a comedy genre that mixed high-status Latin…

1 week ago

Lexical Gaps Across Languages

Ever wonder why German has a word for taking pleasure in someone else's misfortune (*Schadenfreude*), but English doesn't? This post…

2 months ago

Autohyponymy: The Word Inside

Can a word be a specific type of itself? This article introduces autohyponymy, a fascinating linguistic quirk where words like…

2 months ago

The Case for Compounding

Behold the German word Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän. Far from being a chaotic jumble of letters, this linguistic titan is a masterclass in…

3 months ago

The Lexicon of the Lab: Inside Scientific Latin

Ever wonder why scientists use a "dead" language to name living things? Scientific Latin is more than just a tradition;…

3 months ago

Linguistic Landmines: The World of Contronyms

Have you ever noticed that a single word can mean its own opposite? These linguistic curiosities, called contronyms, are words…

3 months ago

The Surprising Slavic Words in English

Did you know that when you talk about 'vampires' or 'robots', you're actually speaking Slavic? English is full of surprising…

3 months ago

Can Slavic Speakers Understand Each Other?

Can a Pole successfully order a beer in Slovakia? We explore the fascinating world of Slavic mutual intelligibility, testing the…

3 months ago

Counting in Japanese Is Weird: A Guide to Counters

You’ve diligently memorized 'ichi, ni, san', but ordering 'two beers' in Tokyo isn't as simple as 'biiru ni'. Welcome to…

3 months ago

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