11 Little-Known Words for Specific Family Members The words we use for family members in English are specific about some things, and vague about others. Our vocabulary marks a distinction between our mother and her sisters (some languages use one word for mother and maternal aunts), but doesn't say whether siblings are older or younger (some languages have different words for brother and sister depending on their age relative to you). We lack words that pick out particular family members (we have "cousin," but what about child-of-my-father's-brother?) as well as certain general terms (we have "siblings" for brothers-and-sisters, but what about nieces-and-nephews?) If you look hard enough, you can find some words to help fill in the gaps. 1. Child of your paternal uncle. 2. Your mother's brother. 3. Your nieces and nephews. 4. Your father's sister. 5. Your mother's sister. 6. Your father's brother. 7. Your mother's brother. 8. Your half-brother from the same mother. 9. Full brother, sharing both parents. 10. 11. *Oops.
Cide Words (killing) BORED? Play our free word games – INTERACTIVE HANGMAN Have you ever noticed the connection between words like suicide, homicide, genocide, pesticide and fungicide? They all end in –cide, of course, but their meanings are linked too. The five examples above are not the only –cide words, however. The words below are divided into the following eight categories: Killing One's Relatives, Murdering Other People, Killing Animals, Killing Insects, Medicine (Killing Diseases), Killing Plants, Miscellaneous Killing, and Extreme Killing. Killing One's Relations Here are 13 words for killing members of one's family. Killing Other People – Murder Killing Animals – Slaughter There are terms for the killing of many types of animal. Killing Insects Medicines And Drugs That Exterminate In the same way that fungicide is used to kill fungal spores, there are thousands of medicines and drugs used to kill all manner of bacteria and diseases. Killing Plantlife Other Death, Annihilation, and Obliteration
Animal Adjectives Animal Adjectives While there are other forms of adjectives for animals, by far the greater majority of such words end in -ine; thus the following list deals excusively with this type. The -ine suffix comes from the Latin -inus and forms terms meaning 'of or relating to' or 'of the nature of'. Some of these words are sometimes even used in reference to people: how often have you heard of a woman moving with feline grace, for instance? Note that some animals share the same adjective, for example, badgers, ermines, ferrets, etc. are all musteline, while other animals can be descibed by more than one adjective. Home ~ The Stories ~ Diversions ~ Links ~ Contact 19 amazing English words we've totally forgotten about 1. Twirlblast A tornado, according to people in the 1700s. 2. The act of making the sound your shoes make when you’re walking in them and they’re full of water. 3. This actually does not refer to the activities of a successful third date, but rather refers to a specific punctuation mark that is a mixture of a question mark and an exclamation mark (‽). 4. This amazing word refers to the Medieval belief that a woman in labor could be made to feel better by giving her some cheese. 5. Poor handwriting. 6. One who gives their opinions on things they don’t know about. 7. To put a live eel up a horse’s butt. 8. Things that look nice, but are actually pretty worthless. 9. A dishonest public official. See 10 more amazing forgotten English words on page 2 >>
Origins Of Popular Jewish Surnames Correction, Jan. 29, 2014: Some of the sources used in the reporting of this piece were unreliable and resulted in a number of untruths and inaccuracies. The original post remains below, but a follow-up post outlining the errors, as well as further explanation, can be found here. Ashkenazic Jews were among the last Europeans to take family names. Some German-speaking Jews took last names as early as the 17th century, but the overwhelming majority of Jews lived in Eastern Europe and did not take last names until compelled to do so. The process began in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1787 and ended in Czarist Russia in 1844. In attempting to build modern nation-states, the authorities insisted that Jews take last names so that they could be taxed, drafted, and educated (in that order of importance). Until this period, Jewish names generally changed with every generation. Jews distrusted the authorities and resisted the new requirement. MATRONYMICS (daughter of …) Let us close with a ditty:
8 Words So Poetic and Succinct That They Take Whole Paragraphs to Translate – Dusty Old Thing In English, we often use a lot of words to make our point, giving us the freedom to customize concepts in nearly infinite ways. But, we’ve recently come across some non-English words which seem to fit a whole paragraph into just one term. Have a look at 8 of the most succinct (and poetic) words from other languages. 8) Saudade The Portuguese word saudade recounts the longing and nostalgia that arose when thinking of a past time or a person long gone. 7) Hygge Cozy is the closest translation of this Danish/ Swedish word. 6) Kilig In the Tagolog language of the Phillipines the term kilig refers to having butterflies in your stomach over a romantic encounter. 5) Ya’aburnee This word is an Arabic term which has a heartbreaking meaning. Click “Next Page” to see the rest!
12 Letters That Didn't Make the Alphabet You know the alphabet. It’s one of the first things you’re taught in school. But did you know that they’re not teaching you all of the alphabet? There are quite a few letters we tossed aside as our language grew, and you probably never even knew they existed. 1. Have you ever seen a place that calls itself “ye olde whatever”? Thorn, which was pronounced exactly like the "th" in its name, is actually still around today in Icelandic. 2. Another holdover from the Futhark runic alphabet, wynn was adapted to the Latin alphabet because it didn’t have a letter that quite fit the “w” sound that was common in English. Over time, though, the idea of sticking two u’s together actually became quite popular, enough so that they literally became stuck together and became the letter W (which, you’ll notice, is actually two V’s). 3. Yogh stood for a sort of throaty noise that was common in Middle English words that sounded like the "ch" in "Bach" or Scottish "loch." 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.
Historical Thesaurus :: Home :: Welcome The Color Thesaurus | Ingrid's Notes I love to collect words. Making word lists can help to find the voice of my story, dig into the emotion of a scene, or create variety. One of my on-going word collections is of colors. So for fun, I created this color thesaurus for your reference. Fill your stories with a rainbow of images! Like this: Like Loading...
Writer Creates “Color Thesaurus” To Help You Correctly Name Any Color Imaginable Ingrid Sundberg, a writer and children’s book illustrator, created a very useful infographic chart for anyone struggling with color names. The writer says that she loves to collect words that can help give her stories variety and depth. Show Full Text “I’ve learned that we all have different associations with color words,” Sundberg told Bored Panda. “For example the color sapphire is a light blue to me (since that’s the color of the sapphire on my engagement ring), but a sapphire can also be a very dark blue. Read on to see all of these colors’ names as well as Sundberg’s interview with Bored Panda. More info: ingridsnotes.wordpress.com | sundbergstudio.com | Facebook (h/t: lustik) “There was no official color guide,” Sundberg told Bored Panda. “I use it all the time when I write. “I’ve learned that we all have different associations with color words. “I’m currently working on a visual hair-color thesaurus and a visual emotions/facial expressions thesaurus.
7 Beautiful Words With No Direct English Translation You know that feeling you get when surrounded by close friends or family -- perhaps gathered around a fireplace after a meal, or chatting on the couch in your pajamas on a Sunday morning? There truly is no word to describe it. Or at least not in English. In Dutch, there's gezellig, which means cozy, but encompasses more than a physical feeling. It is a sort of social coziness. This and other words without direct English translations have been compiled in the collection, Lost in Translation: An Illustrated Compendium of Untranslatable Words from Around the World. Below are 7 beautiful words with no direct English translation. Tretår -- Swedish Trepverter -- Yiddish Karelu -- Tulu Indian Kabelsalat -- German Gazelleig -- Dutch Pålegg -- Norwegian Razliubit -- Russian
Color Words Colour Terms This list contains 168 definitions of obscure colour terms using combinations of 'normal' colours of the rainbow and descriptive adjectives; e.g. cardinal = deep scarlet red; russet = reddish brown. Note that most English speakers outside the U.S. spell colour with the added British 'u' rather than the American version color. Don't worry if the colours (or colors) in your universe don't match up with the definitions I've given for these words, though - I've been known to have skewed perceptions of reality ... I hope you have found this site to be useful.
The Phrontistery: Obscure Words and Vocabulary Resources