September's Word for Wednesday theme is school. So far, we’ve looked at the words semester, teacher, pupil, and uniform. Our final word for September is exam. An exam is a formal set of questions or exercises that evaluate a particular skill or knowledge. In schools, exams are often set at the end of a term or a year to assess a student’s progress. Exam has been used as an abbreviation for examination since 1848, when it was a slang word used by college students. Examination comes from the Old French ‘examinacion’, from the Latin ‘examinare’ meaning ‘to ponder’ or ‘to consider’. The word took on ...
Our Word for Wednesday theme for September is school. The word school comes from the Old English ‘scol’ meaning ‘place of instruction’, from the Latin ‘schola’ meaning ‘intermission of work’ and ‘leisure for learning’. The idea of children attending a school is from around 1300 and the idea of a school building is from the 1590s. Over the last few weeks we’ve looked at the words semester, teacher, and pupil. Today’s word is uniform. A uniform is a specific outfit worn my members of a particular group as means of identification. In the UK, it is common for p...
This month's Word for Wednesday theme is school. The word school comes from the Old English ‘scol’ meaning ‘place of instruction’, from the Latin ‘schola’ meaning ‘intermission of work’ and ‘leisure for learning’. The idea of children attending a school is from around 1300 and the idea of a school building is from the 1590s. So far we’ve looked at the words semester and teacher. Today’s word is pupil. A pupil is a learner who is enrolled in an educational institution. The word is usually used to refer to schoolchildren. Pupil was the Late Middle Eng...
Did you know there are over a million word lists on Spellzone? Every word list can be used in a variety of online and offline activities – learn more about them here. Here are 3 word lists to try in September: Words ending in ctor This month’s spelling pattern is 'ctor' endings After the letters 'ct', many words use 'or' to spell the weak vowel ending. Learn about ctor words in Unit 25 and practise spelling them in this word list. Education - Places September means back to school and to celebrate we’ve chosen education as this month’s Word for Wednesday theme. Over the next few week...
3 Word Lists for May For this month’s word lists, we looked at synonyms of funny, exceptions to the ‘i before e except after c’ spelling rule, and colours. There are lots of different ways you can use a Spellzone word list to help you practise your spelling – learn more about them here. 10 Words for…Fast In our 10 Words blog post. we shared alternatives for the word for fast. From breakneck, to hasty, to swift – we’ve got the word for you! American English vs. British English: The School Edition Semester or Term? Student or pupil? Math or Maths? Some ...
August is drawing to a close and to get you prepared for the start of the academic year in just a few day’s time, we’ve chosen a school-related word for this week’s Word for Wednesday. The word pupil has two meanings. It can be used to describe a school student and the dark circle at the centre of the iris in an eye. Although not all homonyms have the same origin, both versions of the word pupil derive from the Latin ‘pupilla’ meaning ‘doll’. While it’s not too difficult to see how the meaning of pupil might have evolved from doll, to child, to schoolchild, to student; you might be wondering where the eye-related meaning comes into the...
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