What does each word mean? A sleigh is a vehicle on runners which is pulled by horses or dogs over snow. As a verb, the word describes the act of riding in a sleigh. Here is sleigh used in some example sentences: Santa Claus delivers presents in a flying sleigh pulled by reindeer. Do you hear the sleigh bells jingling? We sleighed through the snow. Slay means destroy or kill. Here is slay used in some an example sentence: The show about a teenager who slays vampire. Where does each word come from? The word sleigh dates to 1703 and comes from Dutch the ‘slee’, which is a shortened versio...
Our Word for Wednesday theme for August is flowers. The word flower entered English around 1200 as ‘flour’ (with spelling variants including ‘flur’, ‘flor’, ‘floer’, ‘flor’, ‘floyer’, and ‘flowre’). It comes from the Old French ‘flor’, from the Latin ‘florem’. The word was used in reference to both blooms and grain until the late fourteenth century, after which the spellings ‘flower’ and ‘flour’ were used to differentiate between the two. Last week we looked at the word daisy, and today’s word is tulip. A tulip is ...
What does each word mean? If you have flair, it means you have natural talent for something or a distinctive and stylish elegance. Click here for the full Spellzone dictionary definition of the word. Here is flair used in some example sentences: It was only the pupil’s first piano lesson, but the teacher could already tell he had a flair for music. Her clothes have such flair, don’t you think? Click here to find the Spellzone vocabulary lists related to the word flair. If a something flares, it spreads outwards. The word is often used to describe sudden bursts or light, fire, or emotion. Click here for the full Spellzone dictionary definition of the wo...
In this week’s Word for Wednesday, we’ll be debunking a popular urban myth. Originating in Scotland in the middle ages, the game of Golf has risen to worldwide popularity. Despite all the associations of pomp and grandeur, Golf is becoming an increasingly accessible sport. One thing that doesn’t help these associations is the common misconception that Golf is an acronym; a rather misogynistic one too… The legend lingers that golf is an acronym for Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden. In fact, the real etymology is likely to be much more straightforward. One potential origin is the Scottish word ‘goult’ meaning ’to strike’. Also, the Dutch ‘kolf’ for ‘club’ is another possible relative. ...
Some of you may be aware that a certain sporting event begins tomorrow in Brazil. The word 'cup' originates from countries that could be mistaken for a group in the tournament itself: England, Italy, Germany and Holland. In old and modern English 'cup' means 'a small bowl-shaped container for drinking from' and this derived from the popular Latin 'cuppa' (modern Italian 'coppa') and Latin 'cupa' meaning 'tub’, Middle Low German 'kopp' and Dutch 'kopje'. The ironic thing is that the modern World Cup is not actually a 'cup' as also described in most dictionaries: 'a large cup-shaped metal vessel havi...
Tea time… Since its discovery in China almost 5000 years ago, billions of people in almost every corner of the world have enjoyed a good old cuppa. For many, the cup of tea is a source of comfort and reassurance and often the ritual of making tea is just as important as that first slurp. Initially tea was also used for medicinal purposes and I suppose it still is. In times of stress or tiredness we often seek refuge in a nice warm cup of 'cha'. Tea arrived in England in the 17th century through the Dutch‘East India Company’, which still transports tea around the world today. The word ‘tea’ itself came into the English language in the late...
Due to the global economic crisis over the past few years the word stock has been in the news many times and every day millions of stocks and shares are exchanged, often via a virtual listed stock exchange where all of the trading is done over a computer network. The more I thought about the word stock the more it became a curiosity. Simply by sitting down with a pen and paper I was able to note ten uses of the word: The goods kept in a shop or business for sale or distribution. A supply of something collected or available for future use. Railway trains, carriages and wagons (rolling stock) A liquid made by cooking bones, meat, fish, or vegetables in water A plant with fragr...
We have a confession to make, here in the Spellzone office we’ve been addicted to Scrabble for the last few months. The intensely addictive blend of chance and skill combined with our love for words has led to plenty of office rivalry. Scrabble is one of the best selling board games ever with a whopping 150 million units sold worldwide. If word games really are that popular perhaps we’re in the right business! Playing Scrabble is a great way to discover new words, recall words readily, and learn or reinforce spellings. In fact we were surprised at the amount of new words we discovered purely by fooling around with our tiles including the terribly lazy (but high scoring!) ab...
Everybody needs a little bit of luck sometime. The word itself originates from the 15th century Dutch ‘gheluc’: ‘happiness, good fortune’(Online Etymology Dictionary). Eventually, this shortened to ‘luc’. The modern German descendant, ‘Glük’ means prosperity. It is suggested that the word made its way into English via the gambling scene. Also worth noting is that fifteenth century Middle English featured a verb, ‘lukken’ meaning ‘chance’. Perhaps today’s ‘luck’ is a merging of its two ancestors: ‘Gheluc’ and ‘Lukken’ combined to mean the ‘chance of good fortune&r...
This week we’ll be looking at another word that has evolved multiple meanings: cookie. The Internet age has transformed the meanings and connotations of hundreds of words and even introduced new ones into our dictionary; ‘Google’ and ‘retweet’ to name a couple. The word 'cookie' comes from the Dutch 'koekje' or ‘little cake’ and made its way into American culture as a small sweet cake. What would be deemed a biscuit in England would be called a 'cookie' in the States, where a biscuit is a kind of hard-crusted bread cake – much like British scones. Despite the differences in the definition of biscuit, both cul...
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