The maxim 'an apple a day keeps the doctor away' isn’t true, but belief in a miraculous botanical 'cure for whatever ails ya' has existed for millennia and is at the root of the word panacea. In

The reviewed collections, Cowley’s “What If?” trilogy and Ferguson’s “Virtual History,” offer distinct approaches to counterfactual history, enhancing critical t…

The origins of the word logy (sometimes spelled loggy) likely lie in the Dutch word log, meaning 'heavy,' a relation of the ancient German adjective luggich, meaning 'lazy.' The word shares no history

Jettison comes from the Anglo-French noun geteson (literally 'action of throwing'), and ultimately from the Latin verb jactare, meaning 'to throw.' The noun jettison refers to a voluntary sacrifice of

English picked up both the concept of hubris and the term for that particular brand of cockiness from the ancient Greeks, who considered hubris a dangerous character flaw capable of provoking the

Utmost, which typically communicates that something is of the greatest or highest in degree, number, or amount, is commonly found modifying words like importance, concern, and respect. But utmost can

There’s something inventive about devise, a word that stems from Latin dividere, meaning 'to divide.' By the time devise was being used in English, its Anglo-French forebear deviser had accumulated an

People who demonstrate meritorious behavior certainly earn our respect, and you can use that fact to remember that meritorious has its roots in the Latin verb merēre, which means 'to earn.' (Merēre is

Fugitive entered English as both a noun and an adjective in the 14th century, coming ultimately from the Latin verb fugere, meaning 'to flee.' As a noun, it originally referred, as it still does today

We’re sorry to say you must cast your eyes down to fully understand abject: in Middle English the word described those lowly ones who are rejected and cast out. By the 15th century, it was applied as

The post explores how baseball films transcend mere entertainment, offering profound reflections on American dreams, identity, and the human experience through narratives that resonate emotionally …

Pity poor King Tantalus of Lydia. The mythic monarch offended the ancient Greek gods, and was sentenced, according to Homer's Odyssey, to suffer in Hades the following punishment: to stand neck-deep

Hubert Humphrey’s 1948 convention speech redefined the Democratic Party’s approach to civil rights, shaping its future political identity and liberating it from Southern segregationist …

The history of nuance starts in Latin with the noun nūbēs, meaning 'cloud.' Nūbēs floated into Middle French as nu, also meaning 'cloud,' which eventually gave rise to nuer, meaning 'to make shades of

Props to Elton John: sorry really does seem to be the hardest word. But saying it (in something other than a nonapology is an important part of being contrite—that is, feeling or showing sorrow and

Impunity, like the words pain, penal, and punish, traces to the Latin noun poena, meaning 'punishment.' Poena, in turn, came from the Greek poinē, meaning 'payment' or 'penalty.' Impunity has been

Post by @bfwclassroom.

Rescind and the lesser-known words exscind and prescind all come from the Latin verb scindere, which means 'to split, cleave, separate.' Rescind was adapted from its Latin predecessor rescindere in