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. Over April, we've looked at the words immediately, ceiling, and decide. Our final word of the month is disappoint. If something disappoints you, it means it fails to meet your hopes or expectations for it. Here is disappoint used in some example sentences: Don’t disappoint your proud papa! I was disappointed when it rained on my birthday. The team’s result was disappointing. The word...
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. Over the month, we've shared spelling tips for the words beautiful, because, business and definitely. Our final tricky spelling word for March disappear. If something disappears, it means it vanishes (sometimes without warning or explanation). Here is disappear used in some example sentences: The sun disappears below the horizon and darkness falls. I can’t find my keys anywhere – they have disappeared...
A hyphen is a short dash which is used to link words together. Last week, we learned how to use hyphens in compound words. Today, we will look at how to use hyphens when adding a prefix to another word, how to use hyphens to denote word breaks, and how to use hyphens to stand in for repeated parts of words in lists. Using Hyphens to Join Prefixes to Other Words What is a prefix? A prefix is a collection of letters that is added to the beginning of a word in order to modify its meaning. Prefixes are not usually words in their own right. Here are some examples of prefixes: un- pre- multi- post- super- Do I need to use a hyphen every time I add a prefix to a word?...
What is a 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. This week, we will look at how to use hyphens in compound words. What is a compound word? 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 the included words. There are different types of compound words and you don’t need to use hyphens in all of them. Compound Adjectives...
As the end of the year approaches, I find myself thinking about what I want from the New Year. In the past, on the blog, we’ve looked at the word ‘resolution’ as part of the Word for Wednesday feature, came up with spelling resolutions, and looked at idioms for new beginnings. For me the New Year is a time of renewal. In my resolutions, I try to refocus on old projects with fresh eyes just as much as I like to find new ones. The word ‘renew’ dates back to the late fourteenth century, from the prefix ‘re-’ meaning ‘again’ and the Middle English ‘newen’ meaning ‘resume, revive, renew’. ‘New’ comes from...
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...
In this week’s Word for Wednesday extravaganza we’ll be taking a look at some popular bad habits and the weird and wonderful nomenclature that accompanies them! Biting your fingernails. The often-painful habit is also known as ‘onychophagy’. The prefix ‘onycho-‘ is used for words pertaining to the nails and the suffix ‘-phagy’ refers to consumption or feeding. Stealing food This unforgivable practice is known as ‘cleptobiosis’. A students nightmare – ever gone to the fridge and realized someone has taken your last drop of milk, leaving you incapable to brew that much-needed cuppa? The prefix ‘...
The word Keeper is derived from the Middle English verb kepen; the act of taking possession and or care of something. The Oxford English dictionary tells us that a keeper is a person charged with responsibility for the preservation and conservation of something valuable. Strangely we hear the idiom ‘I am not my brother’s keeper’ (a distorted quote from the Biblical story of Cain and Abel); apparently brothers don’t qualify as valuable! Most often, the word keeper is used with a prefix: goalkeeper, gatekeeper, zookeeper and so on. However, keeper is sometimes used in informal contexts as a noun referring to something of high quality worth keeping, ‘this one’s a keeper’. The title of ‘kee...
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