3 Word Lists for June This month's English vocabulary lists were words ending in ‘ery’, Platinum Jubilee spelling words, and under-the-sea spelling words for UN World Oceans Day. 10 Words for … Surprised From flabbergasted to stunned, we’re looking at alternatives to surprised in this month’s 10 Words… blog post. Commonly Confused Words: Real vs. Reel In this month’s Commonly Confused Words blog post, we looked at the words real and reel. Do you know when to use which word? Learn more about the words real and reel in Unit 7. Word for Wed...
Our Word for Wednesday theme for June is words that derive from Greek mythology. Last week we looked at the word atlas and today’s word is chaos. The word chaos is used to describe a state of extreme confusion or disorder. Here is chaos used in some example sentences: The performance was utter chaos – no one knew what they were supposed to do! My bedroom may seem like chaos to you, but I find it a very relaxing space. The school predicted that the snow would cause chaos on the roads and so decided to close for the day. In Greek mythology, the god Chaos personifies the void that preceded the creation of the universe. Today the wor...
May 4th marked Star Wars Day and to celebrate we chose Star Wars as this month’s Word for Wednesday theme. The date of this commemorative celebration comes from the pun on the Star Wars catchphrase ‘May the Force be with you’. Though the first recorded use of ‘May the 4th be with you’ dates to 1979, the first organised commemorative event for Star Wars Day wasn’t until 2011 when an event was hosted at the Toronto Underground Cinema. Today, Star Wars Day is observed by fans all over the world. So far we’ve looked at the words force and Jedi. Our third word of the month is droid. &nbs...
Our July Word for Wednesday theme 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. So far we’ve looked at the words delphinium, lily&nb...
Our July Word for Wednesday theme 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. So far we’ve looked at the words delphinium and lily. This wee...
For our July Word for Wednesday theme, we’ve decided to return to 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. Our first flower-themed word this month is delphinium. Delphinium...
Halloween is going to be different this year, but we’re still excited to celebrate all things spooky and scary in this month’s Word for Wednesday articles. Last week we looked at the word ghost and today’s word is werewolf. So what exactly is a werewolf? Sometimes referred to as a man-wolf or a lycanthrope, the werewolf suffers an affliction which forces it to change from a human to a wolf or wolf-like creature at the full moon. A human usually becomes contaminated after being bitten or scratched by another werewolf. The werewolf crops up in stories across Europe and evil shapeshifters appear in mythology from all over the world. Humans...
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. So far we’ve looked at the words daisy, tulip, and carnation—our final...
Our Word for Wednesday theme for July is fruit. The word fruit dates back to the late-twelfth century when it was used to mean ‘any vegetable product useful to humans or animals’. It entered English via Old French and comes from the Latin ‘fructus’ meaning ‘an enjoyment, delight, or satisfaction’ as well as ‘proceeds, produce, fruit, and crops’. The word took on its modern meaning in the early thirteenth century. So far we’ve looked at the words banana, pineapple, plum, and pomegranate —today’s word is cherry. A cherry is a small round fruit with a si...
For the month of May, we have chosen musical instruments as the theme for our Word for Wednesday posts. The word music entered English in the thirteenth century as ‘musike’ via the Old French ‘musique’ and the Latin ‘musica’ meaning ‘music or poetry’. ‘Musica’ is from the Greek ‘mousikē’ which means ‘art of the muses’. The first instrument we’ve chosen to look at is piano. A piano is the keyboard instrument which is played by depressing keys that cause hammers to strike tuned strings in order to make sounds. In music, the word also means soft or quiet. The w...
Our chosen theme for April's Word for Wednesday posts is animals. So far we’ve looked at rhinoceros, ostrich, and python. The word animal has been used in English to describe sentient living creatures since the early fourteenth century, before which the word beast was more common. It comes from the Latin 'animale' meaning ‘being which breathes’, from ‘anima’ which means ‘breath’ or ‘soul’. So far we’ve looked at the word origins of rhinoceros, ostrich, python, and flamingo. For our final animal-themed Word for Wednesday post, our chosen w...
Our chosen theme for April's Word for Wednesday posts is animals. So far we’ve looked at rhinoceros, ostrich, and python. The word animal has been used in English to describe sentient living creatures since the early fourteenth century, before which the word beast was more common. It comes from the Latin 'animale' meaning ‘being which breathes’, from ‘anima’ which means ‘breath’ or ‘soul’. This week we’ve got another bird word for you – flamingo. These iconic wading birds are known for their bright pink or scarlet plumage, long legs, and neck....
Our chosen theme for April's Word for Wednesday posts is animals. The word animal has been used in English to describe sentient living creatures since the early fourteenth century, before which the word beast was more common. It comes from the Latin 'animale' meaning ‘being which breathes’, from ‘anima’ which means ‘breath’ or ‘soul’. So far we’ve looked at the rhinoceros and the ostrich. Today’s animal is the python. A python is a large non-venomous snake known for killing its prey by constriction and asphyxiation. Pythons have flecked skin and long for...
Our chosen theme for April's Word for Wednesday posts is animals. The word animal has been used in English to describe sentient living creatures since the early fourteenth century, before which the word beast was more common. It comes from the Latin 'animale' meaning ‘being which breathes’, from ‘anima’ which means ‘breath’ or ‘soul’. Last week, we explored the origins of the word rhinoceros and this week’s animal is rather different looking. Today, our chosen word is ostrich. Ostriches are the largest living birds, known for their speed, long necks, and two-toed feet. Today, wild ostriches...
Our chosen theme for April's Word for Wednesday posts is animals. The word animal has been used in English to describe sentient living creatures since the early fourteenth century, before which the word beast was more common. It comes from the Latin 'animale' meaning ‘being which breathes’, from ‘anima’ which means ‘breath’ or ‘soul’. Over the next few weeks, we will look at a range of animals and the origins of their names. Starting with…rhinoceros! Native to Africa and southern Asia, the rhinoceros is a large mammal known for the one or two horns on its nose. It is heavily built and has thick fold...
For the month of March, we are theming our Word for Wednesday blog posts around types of punctuation. So far we have looked at the words apostrophe, parenthesis, and comma. This week’s word is hyphen. A hyphen is a short dash which is used to link words together. There are three main situations in which hyphens are used: in compound words, when adding a prefix to another word, and to denote word breaks. A compound word is a word that is made up of two or more other words. Hyphens are often used in compound words either to show that when the included words are together they have a combined meaning, or to show the relationship between ...
Over the course of March we’ve decided to try something new for our Word for Wednesday feature and choose each week’s word to fit around a specific theme. Our chosen theme is punctuation, starting with the word apostrophe. As today is National Grammar Day in the United States of America, it is important to point out that grammar and punctuation are not the same thing. Grammar refers to the whole system and structure of a language and you can find a Word for Wednesday post about the word’s origin here. Punctuation on the other hand refers to the written marks used to separate sentences in order to clarify meaning. Punctuation marks have a variety of...
Last week we looked at the origins of the word language and today we’re going to continue on that theme with the word idiom. Idioms are an expressive way of using language. They are combinations of word which have a figurative meaning that is separate for the actual definitions of the words used. Here are some examples of idioms and what they mean: 1) fly on the wall an unnoticed witness I’d love to be a fly on the wall when she finally tells them the truth. 2) storm in a teacup a small occurrence exaggerated out of proportion All this outrage seems like a storm in a teacu...
What does each word mean? A conscience is one’s moral sense of right and wrong and is used to guide the way one chooses to conduct themselves. Click here for the full Spellzone dictionary definition of the word. Here is conscience used in some example sentences: She wanted to skip her spelling lesson, but her conscience knew this was wrong. He couldn’t let go of his guilty conscience and eventually decided to own up to his crime. Click here to find Spellzone vocabulary lists related to the word conscience. The adjective conscious describes the act of being aware of and responding to one’s surroundings. The word can also describe the act of knowing abou...
What does each word mean? As a noun, the word ‘pore’ refers to a tiny hole in a surface (e.g. the skin) which allows particles, liquids, or gases to pass through it. As a verb, it is used to describe the act of reading or studying something thoroughly. Click here for the full Spellzone dictionary definition of the word. Here is pore used in some example sentences: She uses a pore-minimising lotion. In the weeks leading up to his exam, he stayed up all night poring over his books. Click here to find the Spellzone vocabulary lists featuring the word pore. If you are pouring something, you are causing it to flow quickly and steadily. Click here for the full S...
The Spellzone dictionary defines ‘phobia’ as: ‘an anxiety disorder characterized by extreme and irrational fear of simple things or social situations’. The word has been used in English since the 1780s, perhaps modelled on its use in French. It originally comes from the Greek ‘phobia’, from ‘phobos’ meaning ‘fear, panic, terror, outward show of fear, object of fear or terror’. Before this ‘phobia’ meant ‘flight’ and the word took on the meaning ‘fear’ from the idea of fleeing in panic or fright. Today we’re going to look at a list of different type of phobias – how many do you re...
In this week’s Word for Wednesday we’ll be heading back in time to the Jurassic period… Let’s look at the name of the prehistoric reptile and ancestor of the bird: Pterodactyl (pronounced ‘terro-dac-til’). The word ‘pterodactyl’ is built from two components: ‘Pteron’ is Greek for wing and ‘Daktulos’ is Greek for finger. Wing-finger isn’t quite as catchy is it? But did you know that the ‘pter’ part of the word is the same as in the word 'helicopter'? Helicopter is also a compound word from the Greek ‘Helix’ (spiral) and ‘Pteron’ (wing). Fascinating! We challen...
Do you consider yourself lover of words? If so you’re what’s known as a ‘logophile’. A logophile delights in expanding their vocabulary and loves how words interact with one another, how words came to be and why their meanings have changed over time. Let’s disassemble the word to its Greek components: ‘logo’ comes from Greek and means literally ‘word’ or ‘speech’. The ‘-phile’ suffix which means ‘lover of…’ or ‘enthusiast for…’ originates from the Latin ‘philus’, but arrived to English through the Greek ‘philos’ meaning ‘loving’ ...
This week’s Word for Wednesday concerns a rather rare word in the English language: namely, the shortest word to use all 5 vowels. The word eunoia comes from a Greek word meaning: ‘beautiful thinking’. As such, in medicine, eunoia is occasionally used to describe the state of normal mental health. In his exceptionally clever book entitled ‘Eunoia’, Canadian poet Christian Bok uses exclusively one vowel per chapter and as you’d expect, the book took him a while to write - 7 years in fact!. Aristotle, in his work 'Nichomechean Ethics', describes eunioa as one of the basic requirements for a happy life – here eunoia is synonymous with bene...
This week we’ll be expanding your vocabulary with three words beginning with the letter ‘Z’. How many can ‘Z’ words can you think of (no Zebra’s allowed!)? Firstly, let’s start with the evocative word ‘zephyr’. Zephyr comes from the Greek ‘zephyros’ meaning ‘the west wind’. This ancient meaning remains but has expanded to include any light breeze or lightweight article of clothing. Lovely. Next on the menu is the delicious Italian snack, 'zeppoli'! A zeppoli or zeppole is a deep-fried, spherical pastry rather like a doughnut. These are usually topped with powdered sugar and are especially popular...
Its been well over two years since we started blogging here at Spellzone, and hopefully our weekly posts have helped to grow your vocabulary and appreciation of words; leading us nicely to this week’s Word for Wednesday: lexicon. A lexicon is a wordbook, a dictionary containing the words of a particular language and in linguistics; a lexicon is the ‘total inventory of morphemes in a given language’. But to me, the beauty of the word lexicon is found in its personal application – we each have our very own lexicon: our vocabulary. The wonderful thing about language is how it constantly changes and expands, allowing us to grow and adapt our personal lexicon every d...
Myriad comes from the Greek ‘myrios’ meaning ‘countless, boundless, infinite’. Interestingly, myriad traditionally refers to the exact number ten thousand and this usage is still used in classical history to denote a unit of ten thousand. In Ancient Greek the word myriad also was used to express ‘the greatest number’ conceivable. However, the Ancient Greek mathematician, Archimedes used the number ‘myriad myriad’ or ‘MM’ - one hundred million, in a system he invented to count grains of sand. In modern English, the word myriad is commonly used to describe a very large but unspecified number. That’s all for this week...
On Friday 20th March a solar eclipse was witnessed across much of the globe and in some parts the effect was a total blackout. Watch from 2:12 of this video. Spectacular! An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when one celestial body obscures another. Eclipse is a Middle English word (eclips) originating from the Old French e(s)clipse , the Latin eclipsis and the Greek ekleipsis, meaning 'to leave out, forsake, fail to appear'. Apparently the sun is 400 times bigger than the moon. The moon is 400 times closer to the earth than the sun, and has the same size as the sun when viewed from the planet Earth. Therefore when the moon comes in-between the sun and the earth a &l...
This week we’ll be investigating a pair of antonyms that you may or may not have come across: utopia and dystopia. The word utopia comes from the Greek ‘ou’, which means ‘not’ or ‘no’ and ‘topos’, meaning ‘place’. This evolved into the modern Latin ‘utopia’, which translates as ‘nowhere’. In 1516, the Englishman Thomas More published a book entitled ‘Utopia’. In the story, he explored the politics of a fictional society that was perfect in every way. Although Thomas More coined the name, the idea of a utopia had long been in existence – the biblical Garden of Eden for example. ...
Tonight is bonfire night, that means the skies tonight across Britain will be illuminated, playing host to a wide array of wails, cackles and screeches to the accompaniment of thunderous booms, snaps and bangs. I’m not really selling it am I? For the pyromaniacs out there, the fifth of November is always spectacle to behold, with displays becoming increasingly impressive every year. Extravagant pyrotechnics aside, there are a handful of other traditions associated with bonfire night: the burning of Guy Fawkes effigies upon the bonfires themselves, toffee apples (a delicious favourite of mine) and of course, sparklers; which allow us to embrace our inner Prometheus, at arm’s...
Under the spotlight this week is a word that describes peace of mind, a state of tranquility and stillness free from worry and stress. In this digital age, our minds and thoughts seem perpetually stimulated, we are conditioned to change focus constantly, checking social media pages, emails, mobile phones, or watching television. Ultimately, our mind is left with very little breathing space! The word ataraxia comes from the Greek for ‘undisturbed’. Ataraxia is a state of mind in which our emotions are allowed respite and our anxieties allowed to dissolve. So tonight as you relax before bedtime, try not to reach for the nearest gadget and instead, simply… relax....
Covering around 72% of our planet's surface, containing 97% of its water, and producing most of the earth's oxygen, yet less than 10% have been explored by humans. This week’s Word for Wednesday is Ocean. Ocean comes from the Greek ‘okeanos’ – meaning 'the great river surrounding the disk of the earth’. Ocean refers to the vast body of salt water that covers most of the earth's surface, and is subdivided into Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic, and Antarctic oceans. The word sea is often used interchangeably with ocean in American English but can imply smaller less significant salt water bodies; although the North Sea was in fact known as...
One of the biggest sporting events in the world, The Tour de France, is due to pass the Yorkshire home of Spellzone at the weekend so the word 'cycle' comes to mind. 'Cycle' orginates from the Late Latin 'cyclus', and the Greek 'kuklos' meaning 'circle, ring, wheel, any circular body, circular motion, cycle of events'. 'Bicycle' as in "to ride a bicycle" dates from around 1883, and is formed from two words. The English 'bi' meaning 'two' and 'kyklos' mentioned above. Fortunately for today's racers, the bicycle superseded a bizarre contraption know as the velocipede, a French invention nicknamed 'T...
Think back to your childhood… Does anything immediately spring to mind? Perhaps hanging out with your best friends, those aureate summer vacations that seemed suspended in time, the scent of freshly mown grass or the pages of your favourite bedtime story. Perhaps it conjures once again that childlike sense of adventure that now lies dormant except on rare occasions. These memories reside in a precious realm in one’s mind, one that can evoke one of the most powerful twinges of the human psyche: a feeling known as nostalgia. Nostalgia is frequently described as a kind of sentimentality for the past, a momentary longing for the pleasures of the past often manifesting in a desire to relive,...
Yesterday was National Grammar Day in America and to celebrate we shared five easy-to-avoid grammar tips on Facebook. This week, for ‘Word for Wednesday’ we thought we’d look at the word ‘grammar’ itself. The Oxford English Dictionary defines ‘grammar’ as the ‘whole system and structure of a language or of languages in general, usually taken as consisting of syntax and morphology (including inflections) and sometimes also phonology and semantics’. You can read the full definition of the word here. What we find the most interesting about the word ‘grammar’ is that, like word ‘spell’, it has associations with m...
Last week, we ran a poll asking you which word you wanted to see featured in this week’s blog. The results were unequivocal and so, the word you’ve chosen for this week’s Word for Wednesday is one whose origin is shrouded in ambiguity… Nincompoop. Nin…com…poop? The Norfolk-born poet laureate Thomas Shadwell penned our first recorded use of this word in 1673. We can assume that by this time it was already present in spoken word. Interestingly, the light-hearted pejorative ‘ninny’ (which we might assume to be a shortening of ‘nincompoop’) predates it in the antiquated term ‘ninny hammer’. Might this reveal nincompoop as an invented embellishment? Regardless, nincompoop seems to perfectly ...
Having woken up to a bout of spectacularly apocalyptic weather this morning which has continued for the whole of the day, I felt moved to explore the etymologies of what are widely known as the four ‘Classical Elements’: terra, aqua, aer and ignis (earth, water, air and fire). ‘Earth’ comes from the Old English 'eorþe' meaning dry land, and by the time this word was widely used around 1000 years ago it had already began to refer to the earth in the wider, terrestrial sense. The word ‘Water’ as we know it comes from the proto-Germanic 'watar', meaning just that. Etymology Online suggests that Proto Indo European (PIE) had two stems for the word water. The most interesting of those can st...
At this time of year, here in England, you can find a ‘grotto’ almost anywhere. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Christmas Grottos – they are rooms (or sometimes entire floors) in places like department stores, shopping centres, or Christmas fêtes, where an actor dressed as Father Christmas gives out small gifts to children. The Online Etymology Dictionary defines the word ‘grotto’ as ‘from Italian grotta, ultimately from Latin crypta “vault, cavern,” from Greek krypte “hidden place”’. I don’t know about you but that description reminds me more of ‘Open Sesame!’ than it does ‘Merry Christ...
As many of you are already aware, this week is the British Dyslexia Association’s annual Dyslexia Awareness Week (14th-20th October). This week is about raising awareness of dyslexia as a very real and complex disability and something that can potentially affect much more than a person’s ability to read and write. The British Dyslexia Association highlights that dyslexics can also face problems with organization, memorization and mathematics but also reminds us of the strengths that dyslexia can bring. One of these positive traits, common among dyslexics I’ve met is creativity and imagination – a quick browse of the #DyslexiaAwarenessWeek hashtags on Twitter ...
A little twist to the Word for Wednesday blog this week: we’ll be looking into the grammatical enigma that is the apostrophe. This week, the government has introduced a new spelling and grammar test for primary school children across the UK. Last year, Education Secretary, Michael Gove introduced a new policy which penalises students for poor spelling and grammar in their national examinations. This is the first time such emphasis has been put onto correct spelling and grammar in the education system. In my opinion, one of the biggest culprits for poor grammar is the misuse of the apostrophe. This is so widespread that one need’nt look far (did you spot it?) to find an i...
In the limelight this week for various reasons is a word that encompasses almost all human achievements; a word that has come to represent our creativity and our desire to explore and progress. Art. Today we are in a social climate where art completely surrounds us, whether we like it or not. The paintings of masters, the music of the greats, the work of our finest writers and the world’s most incredible buildings can all be accessed with the click of a mouse and, finance permitting, in ‘the flesh’ by travelling abroad. But what is art? Unfortunately, to many, the word art conjures up an image of pretentiousness, luxury and controversy. A quick look in to the me...
This week’s word for Wednesday is a strange one indeed. A word of 17th Century Greek origin and whose meaning is widely misused. The word… well err… two words… is ‘Hoi polloi’. Don’t worry if you haven’t heard of it, and let’s de-mystify this expression a little. Let’s start by dismissing the common misconception that ‘Hoi polloi’ refers to the upper class of people or a higher social order. This simply isn’t true as 'Hoi polloi' translates literally to mean ‘the many’ or ‘the masses’. There are a few other popular age-old terms used to express a similar meaning, these are mainly used as pejoratives: plebs (or plebians), peons, riff-raff and so on. Apparently the word crept into modern Eng...
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