Happy new year! Our Word for Wednesday theme for 2023 is tricky spelling words. This year, after sharing the definition and etymology of each week’s word, we will end every blog post with some tips and tricks to help you spell it. Our first word of the year is beginning. A beginning is the start of something. If something is beginning, it means it is about to start. Here is beginning used in some example sentences: 2023 is only just beginning. It is the beginning of January. The film is beginning at noon. Beginning has been used in English since the later-twelfth century. The Old English word for the ‘start of something’ was ‘fruma’. ...
Christmas is a time for stories. Have you heard of these three Christmas characters? What about these three? How did Charles Dickens, author of A Christmas Carol, influence the English language? Ready to deck the halls? Don’t mix up your bows and your boughs. Is it a rain dear or a reindeer? Speaking of reindeer, where did Santa’s reindeer get their names from? Tried our relaxing Spelling Snowball game yet? Maybe you’ll enjoy these five wintry word lists to practise with. Avoid these 10 spelling mistakes this Christmas. Seasons Greetings! Joyeux Noel! Bah humbug! Find a ...
What does each word mean? The word suite can be used to describe a musical composition made up of several movements, a series of connected rooms used as a living space in a hotel, and a set of matching furniture. Here is suite used in some example sentences: This Christmas, the orchestra will play The Nutcracker Suite. They were staying in the penthouse suite in a very expensive hotel. Will you buy a three-piece suite for your living room? Look up suite in the Spellzone dictionary. If something is sweet, it means it tastes like sugar or is pleasing to hear, see, or smell. Sweet is also the British English word for ...
Words ending in 'kle' Our spelling pattern for December is words ending in 'kle'. In these words, the /k l/ sound at the end of a word can spelled 'kle', especially if the word has more than two syllables. Practise this spelling pattern in Unit 26. Characters from A Christmas Carol For book is a classic Christmas tale to read once a year while curled up in front of a roaring fire, for others it’s a GCSE coursework text. Our second list this month is perfect for getting your head around the how to spell each character’s name. Learn more about Charles Dickens’s influence o...
Our Word for Wednesday theme for December is Christmas decorations. A decoration is something that is used to beautify a space. The word comes from the Latin ‘decorare’. Over December we’ve looked at the words nutcracker, bauble, mistletoe, and stocking. Though Christmas might be over, there are still a few days left to enjoy the festive decorations and, with that in mind, our final word of the month is poinsettia. A poinsettia is a small shrub with scarlet petal-like leaves. The star-shaped leaves symbolise the star of Bethlehem and their blood red colour symbolises Christ’s sacrifice. The story of the poinse...
Seasons Greetings! Joyeux Noel! Bah humbug! Find a holiday greeting for every mood. Writing some last-minute cards? Here are 10 writing mistakes to avoid this Christmas. Have you tried our relaxing Spelling Snowball game yet? Here are five wintry word lists to practise with. Play against a friend using the multiplayer option. Spending time away from the computer? Here are five more games to try. Christmas is a time for stories. Have you heard of these three Christmas characters? How about these three? How did Charles Dickens, author of A Christmas Carol, influence the English language? Of cour...
Our Word for Wednesday theme for December is Christmas decorations. A decoration is something that is used to beautify a space. The word comes from the Latin ‘decorare’. So far this month, we’ve looked at the words nutcracker, bauble, and mistletoe. With Christmas Eve just days away, what else could we choose for this week’s word but stocking? Stockings are long socks which are hung up by children on Christmas Eve in the hope that they will be filled with gifts. There is no record of the origin of this tradition and even today different households have different gift-giving rituals. In some families, stockings are filled e...
Our Word for Wednesday theme for December is Christmas decorations. A decoration is something that is used to beautify a space. The word comes from the Latin ‘decorare’. So far, we’ve looked at the words nutcracker and bauble. Today’s word is mistletoe. Mistletoe is a plant with green leathery leaves that grows on trees including apples and oaks. In the winter, the mistletoe plant produces white berries. Though poisonous, mistletoe is often used to decorate with at Christmas time. The tradition of kissing under a mistletoe branch is attributed to servants in late-eighteenth-century England. In some versi...
Our Word for Wednesday theme for December is Christmas decorations. A decoration is something that is used to beautify a space. The word comes from the Latin ‘decorare’. Last week we looked at the word nutcracker and this week's Christmas decoration is bauble. A bauble is brightly coloured glass or plastic orb that is hung on a Christmas tree and catches and reflects the lights in a room. Today, it is common for people to buy or make baubles that are personalised with names, special dates, or photos. The word also means trinket or toy. Bauble dates to the early-fourteenth century and comes from the...
Our Word for Wednesday theme for December is Christmas decorations. A decoration is something that is used to beautify a space. The word comes from the Latin ‘decorare’. Our first Christmas decoration of the month is the nutcracker. A nutcracker is a device that is used to crack nuts open. Some traditional versions of this tool are shaped like a human figure with a space for the nut where the mouth would be. Such devices have come to be associated with Christmas thanks to The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by E. T. A. Hoffman, which was famously scored as a ballet by the composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. In the ballet, a little girl is given a figure-...
December’s Word for Wednesday theme is festive food and drink. So far we’ve looked at mulled wine, mince pies, eggnog, and Brussels sprouts. Our final festive drink of the month is sherry. Sherry is a dry to sweet amber wine from the Jerez region of southern Spain. It is usually drunk as an aperitif. The word dates to around 1600 when it was used as a mistaken singular form of the word 'sherris' (which dates to the 1530s). 'Sherris' comes from the Spanish ‘vino de Xeres’ meaning ‘wine from Xeres’. Today, this Andalusian town where sherry is made is known as Jerez. You can lea...
Every Christmas Eve, Santa Claus and his reindeer deliver presents to children all over the world. The first time a reindeer appeared in a Christmas story was in the children’s poem Old SanteClaus with Much Delight which was published in New York in 1821 and featured an illustration of a sleigh being pulled by a reindeer. Today, Christmas stories usually feature nine reindeer: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Dunder/Donner, Blixem/Blitzen, and Rudolph. Although most of us recognise Rudolph from the popular song, he first appeared in a booklet by Robert L. May in 1939. The booklet was distributed by a Chicago-based retailer who bought and gave away colourin...
December’s Word for Wednesday theme is festive food and drink. So far we’ve looked at mulled wine, mince pies, and eggnog. Today’s festive food is the Brussels sprout. This Christmas dinner vegetable is often debated – some people love Brussels sprouts, others can’t stand them. A Brussels sprout is a small green cabbage-like bud that grows on a stalk. The word dates to 1740, though the first written description of this type of vegetable dates to the 1580s. Brussels sprouts have long been associated with Flanders, specifically Brussels, in Belgium. The name Brussels is of Germanic origin and comes from ‘brocca&r...
One week until Christmas Eve! Watch out for these 10 common writing mistakes this festive season: Bough Make sure you’re decking your halls with boughs of holly and not bows. Deer If you’re writing about the animals that pull Santa’s sleigh, use deer not dear. Frankincense What a tricky word to spell! Pay attention to the ‘i’, the ‘c’, and the ‘s’. Mistletoe Don’t get caught out by silent letters – watch out for the sneaky ‘t’ in the word mistletoe. Myrrh Do you find frankincense or myrrh harder to spell? Watch out for the ...
December’s Word for Wednesday theme is festive food and drink. So far we’ve looked at mulled wine and mince pies. The festive drink we have chosen to look at today is eggnog. Traditionally served in North America during the Christmas season, eggnog is a punch made of an alcoholic liquor mixed with egg and sweetened milk or cream. Sometimes it is flavoured with spices such as cinnamon or nutmeg. Other historic names of this drink include ‘egg milk punch’ and ‘milk punch’. Eggnog has been used in American English since around 1775. The word ‘egg’ dates to the mid-fourteenth century and comes from Old Norse. The word ...
December’s Word for Wednesday theme is festive food and drink. Last week we looked at mulled wine and today’s chosen treat is mince pies. Whether you love them or hate them, there’s no doubt that the mince pie is a Christmas staple here in the UK. A mince pie is a round sweet pie that is filled with mincemeat (a mixture of dried fruits, fat, and spices). Originally mince pies would have contained meat, but today they are usually made without. Although early versions of this pie often went by other names – 'mutton pie', 'Christmas pie', 'shrid pie' – the name mince pie dates to around 1600. The word mincemea...
Happy December! This month’s Word for Wednesday theme is festive food and drink. Our first choice of the month is a seasonal favourite—mulled wine. Mulled wine is wine that is heated with sugar, spices, and often citrus fruit. Other popular mulled drinks include mulled cider, mulled apple juice, and hot toddy. The word ‘mull’ has been used to describe the process of heating a drink with sweeteners and spices since the 1600s. While the origin of this word is unknown, there may be a link with the Dutch word ‘mol’ which was used to describe a sweet beer. ‘Mull’ has also been used in English to mean ‘...
Merry Christmas to all our course subscribers and blog readers! Whatever you are doing, we hope you are having a lovely day. Here is a list of the Christmassy Words for Wednesday we’ve shared over the years: December 'Decem' is Latin for 'ten', so why is it the twelfth month of the year that’s called December? Advent Is advent a period of anticipation or a period of reflection? Pudding Christmas puddings may be delicious, but the origins of this word are less appealing... Reindeer How long have these creatures been a part of Christmas mythology? Trim Trim is a Janus word, which me...
'On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me: Twelve drummers drumming, Eleven pipers piping, Ten lords a-leaping, Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle doves, And a partridge in a pear tree!' Although this bird takes centre stage in the famous Twelve Days of Christmas song, partridge is not a word you hear very often during the rest of the year. The twelve days in the song begin on Christmas Day and end on Twelfth Night (the evening of the fifth of January and the eve of Epiphany). While the song’s origins are unknown, the E...
With the Christmas holidays approaching, you might not be feeling as focused on your spelling studies as usual. We don’t blame you – there’s nothing like a cozy evening in on a cold day. Why not try out our relaxing Spelling Snowball game to keep your spelling in shape? In the game, you click on snowflakes in the right order to spell out a word. While Spelling Snowball can be used with any word list (click on the football above the list to play), we’ve created five season-appropriate spelling lists for you to practise with. After all, if you have to work on your spelling, you might as feel festive while you’re doing it. Here are our 5 wintry wo...
Have you noticed a Christmas theme in our Word for Wednesday posts? Last week we looked at the word trim, and today’s word is something you might use when trimming your tree: tinsel. Tinsel is a type of Christmas decoration made up of strips of shiny metal foil attached to a thread. Used during the Christmas season to adorn everything from trees, to picture frames, to ponytails; tinsel is often a divisive subject. While some love it, others deem it gaudy. In fact, the word is sometimes used figuratively to describe something that is superficially glamorous but ultimately cheap. Here is the word used in some example sentences: Every Christmas th...
Do you celebrate Christmas? Have you trimmed your Christmas tree yet? Today’s Word for Wednesday is a Janus word (also known as a contranym or auto antonym). This means it has two contradictory meanings. The term is named for the god of beginnings Janus, whose image – usually depicted with two heads, one looking back into the past and the other looking forward into the future – is often found carved over doorways and gates. In the context of Christmas, trim means ‘to decorate’ or ‘to adorn’. For example: Each year the family gathers to trim the Christmas tree. For Christmas dinner, we had turkey with all the trimmi...
Here at Spellzone, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! And along with the decorations box and that Michael Bublé album, we’re finding ourselves using certain words that only come out at this time of year. Let’s take a closer at some Christmas-related words and where they come from: Carol While the word ‘carol’ can refer to religious hymns from all seasons, many people associate the word with Christmas songs in particular. Around 1300 the word referred to both a ‘joyful song’ and a ‘dance in a ring’, and it came to be used in reference to Christmas hymns from around 1500. ‘Carol’ comes from the Old F...
With just over a week to go until Christmas, we couldn’t resist choosing a Christmassy word for this week’s blog post. The word ‘reindeer’ has been used in English since around 1400, and probably comes from a Scandinavian source like the Old Norse ‘hreindyri’. ‘Dyr’ was Old Norse for ‘animal’ or ‘beast’, and the Old English cognate was ‘deor’. ‘Hreinn’ (and the Old English ‘hran’) both likely came from the PIE ‘krei’ meaning ‘horn, head’. ‘Hreindyri’, then, translates to something like ‘horn-headed animal’. Although reindeer have be...
As it is Christmas this week, we’ve decided to share our top five word games with you – whether you have a houseful of guests to entertain, or are looking to while away a few hours between opening presents and Christmas dinner, these games are sure to keep you busy! Hangman It doesn’t seem right to put together a list of word games, without mentioning Hangman. Despite being almost every supply teacher’s go to lesson plan, this game is actually quite fun, and a good way of reusing scraps of wrapping paper once all the presents have been opened. If you’d like to play by yourself, we have our own online version of the game, Which Witch! Word Association ...
A blog on things to come… It’s almost that time of year again and whether love it or hate it, Christmas is an opportunity to spend some time with the people who mean the most – and likely eat far more than is good for you! What’s not to look forward to? The word ‘advent’ is derived from the Latin ‘ad’ meaning ‘to’ and ‘venire’ – ‘come’. It’s a word that seems fit to burst with promise and expectation. What do those two words mean to you? ‘To come…’ To me, it almost interrogative: ‘what is to come?’ There is an element of duality within the word too, advent not only anticipates the beginning of something but also brings the previous period to a reflective close – a word trapped in a limb...
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