Wordplay: For the Love of Language | Merriam-Webster

Popular

8 Words for Lesser-Known Musical Instruments

Our maraca shake brings all the hautbois to the yard

Birds Say the Darndest Things

10 Words (or Phrases) Birds Seem to Be Saying

10 Words from Taylor Swift Songs (Merriam's Version)

Look what you made us do

10 Scrabble Words Without Any Vowels

We'd like to not buy a vowel

12 More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

Words beloved even by cranky fans and pettichaps

8 Uncommon Words Related to Love

You won't find these on candy conversation hearts, but maybe you should

9 Superb Owl Words

Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you all? We do!

15 Words That Used to Mean Something Different

Including the secret history of 'secretary'

Word Choices

Gabrielle Zevin

Emily Flake

New Yorker Cartoonist

Celeste Ng

Eli Cymet

Video Game Writer/Producer, Cuphead

Emma Straub

Novelist and Children’s Book Author

Arts & Culture

10 Better Ways to Say Underwear

Get your knickers in a twist

The Words of the Week - June 21

Lookups from Juneteenth, the fourth estate, and the law

A Great Big List of Bread Words

Quit loafing around and get that bread (word)

A List of The U.S. Military Ranks in Order

From Private to General of the Army

9 Other Words for Beautiful

Here are some additional words for calling something lovely

Foreign

17 English Words That Come From Japanese

Some borrowed words don't get returned

All About Latin Plurals

Check your dictionary

8 Words We Stole from French

Spoiler: We stole way more than 8

Digging Up the Latin Roots of 14 Abbreviations

Beyond 'i.e.' and 'e.g.'

Skunk, Bayou, and Other Words with Native American Origins

You've used more than you might think

Games & Hobbies

A Player's Guide to 'Q' without 'U' Words

Remember this and win.

'Slew-foot', 'Deke', and 10 More Words from Hockey

Because it's the Cup.

Why 'Love' Means "Nothing"

In tennis. This is about tennis.

The Scoop on 'The Proof Is in the Pudding'

A delicious question

Are You Ready for Some Football (Words)?

So you can do more than smile and nod when talking about the big game

Science & Nature

Fruit vs. Vegetable

Are you sure you know which is what?

7 Especially Fitting Common Names for Plants

So you don't mix up your Swiss Cheese plants with your Dutchman's Breeches

12 Words for Signs of Spring

Spring is springing

Flower Etymologies For Your Spring Garden

A bouquet of floral origin stories

What Is a 'Coulrophobe' So Afraid Of?

Unusual Phobias, Vol. 2

Word History

Compound Words That Used to Make a Lot More Sense

How 'jack' met 'pot.' How 'wed' met 'lock.'

Why Did Yankee Doodle Call a Feather 'Macaroni'?

What's with his feathered cap?

10 Words You Don’t Seem to Hear as Much These Days

As chosen by you, the social media scroller!

10 Common Words with Military Origins

'Skedaddle', 'ginormous', and more

7 Good Stories That Just Aren't True

No, that's not where that word comes from