How many words (lexemes) do you think the average person knows? How many lexemes are there in the entire English language? Neither of these questions have a real answer. An individual’s lexicon (the number of words he knows) will vary considerably depending on his career(s), hobbies, reading h[...]
Archive for the ‘vocabulary’ Category
Words of the Day (9/4)
Check out all my Words of the Day posts HERE. Note: OE = Old English; ME = Middle English; MnE = Modern English. Here are two etymologies that I find interesting. They come from The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. silly – This comes from the OE word sælig – ‘happy[...]
Words of the day
Every Friday I’m going to post about the etymology (origins) of a few choice words or phrases. “for ever and a day” – meaning indefinitely. This comes from Shakespeare. He used it in two of his plays…1. The Taming of the Shrew (1596): BIONDELLO: I cannot tell; expect [...]