Have you ever wondered where English words come from?<\/p>\n
There are a whopping<\/em><\/span> 171,476 words in the Oxford English Dictionary<\/a>. From aardvark<\/em><\/span> to zyzzyva<\/em><\/span>, words come in all shapes and sizes.<\/p>\n In this post we\u2019ll explore some of the mechanisms through which words are born and we\u2019ll learn some interesting \u2018word histories\u2019 along the way!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n An acronym is a word made up of the first letter of other words. For sure you\u2019ll have seen \u2018LOL\u2019<\/em> (laugh out loud) and \u2018ASAP\u2019<\/em> (as soon as possible), but there are many other examples in the English language, old and new.<\/p>\n In fact, some quite common words are abbreviations in disguise. For example, \u2018radar\u2019<\/em> and the \u2018scuba\u2019<\/em> in scuba-diving are both acronyms. The first comes from \u2018RA<\/u>dio D<\/u>etection A<\/u>nd R<\/u>anging\u2019 and the second stands for<\/em><\/span> \u2018S<\/u>elf-C<\/u>ontained U<\/u>nderwater B<\/u>reathing A<\/u>pparatus\u2019. Both terms have been around for more than 50 years.<\/p>\n Since the invention of text messaging or Short Message Systems (SMS)<\/em>, there has been an explosion of acronyms. There are so many new ones, it\u2019s hard to keep up<\/em><\/span>!<\/p>\n What do you think these ones mean?<\/p>\n (answers at the end of the article)*<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n English belongs to the Germanic family of languages. One of the things Germanic languages have in common is a profound love of compound words. These are words consisting of two (or more) smaller words.<\/p>\n When it comes to compound words, the Germans lead the way. See if you can say this one without stopping to breathe!<\/p>\n \u201cDonaudampfschiffahrtselektrizit\u00e4tenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n (See more about this word in Wikipedia<\/a>)<\/p>\n Why say something in 10 words when you can say it in one?! OK, so this is an extreme example, but English is full of compounds<\/a>.<\/p>\n Here are some of our all-time favourites:<\/p>\n Onomatopoeia – a complicated term for a very simple concept. It comes from Greek, via Latin, and literally means \u2018word-making\u2019. More specifically, it refers to the formation of a word from a sound.<\/p>\n There are many verbs in English that come from the sound you make when doing this action. Try reading these ones out loud – do you know them all?<\/p>\n Of course, English isn\u2019t the only language that creates words from sounds. In fact, some are incredibly similar between languages. One of the best examples of a \u2018universal onomatopoeia\u2019 comes from the world of ornithology<\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n The cuckoo, a medium-sized bird, is famous for two things. Firstly, for laying its eggs in other birds\u2019 nests (very cheeky). Secondly, for its distinct call<\/a>, from which it gets its name. No matter what language you speak, the chances are<\/em><\/span> that the name for this bird will be more or less the same.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n However, this is not the case for all sound words. From one country to another, the noises that animals don\u2019t change all that much. But, for some reason, there\u2019s enormous variety in how animal noises are represented across different languages. Check out this cool video about it!<\/p>\n Words abbreviated<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n
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Words combined<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n
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Words from sounds<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n
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\n \nLanguage<\/th>\n Name for \u2018cuckoo\u2019<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n \n Azerbaijani<\/span><\/td>\n ququ<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Basque<\/span><\/td>\n kuku<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Italian<\/span><\/td>\n cuculo<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Kazakh<\/span><\/td>\n \u043a\u04e9\u043a\u0435\u043a<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Turkish<\/span><\/td>\n guguk<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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