You are able to gift 5 more articles this month. Anyone can access the link you share with no account required. Learn more. A: “Cult” entered English from the French word “culte,” which derived from ...

The Greeks built on Babylonian astronomy to make their observations of eclipses, and the word “ekleipsis” appears as early as the fifth century B.C. in Thucydides’s history of the Peloponnesian War, ...

Last week I wrote about the origins of words for fruits in English (and judging from the comments, irked a few people—go figure). Alas, I am merely a journalist, not a linguist, so I can't give a much ...

Mellifluous remains relevant because it bridges emotion and expression. It highlights how delivery can influence perception, ...

For some time now, we have known the basic outline of the story of “dude.” The word was first used in the late 1800s as a term of mockery for young men who were overly concerned with keeping up with ...

Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/4078401/4078402" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> NPR's ...