Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Thesaurus Linguae Latinae. A modern english thesaurus. A thesaurus (pl.: thesauri or thesauruses), sometimes called a synonym dictionary or dictionary of synonyms, is a reference work which arranges words by their meanings (or in simpler terms, a book where one can find different words with similar meanings to other words), [1] [2] sometimes as a hierarchy of broader and narrower terms ...
Generally, words coming from French often retain a higher register than words of Old English origin, and they are considered by some to be more posh, elaborate, sophisticated, or pretentious. However, there are exceptions: weep , groom and stone (from Old English) occupy a slightly higher register than cry , brush and rock (from French).
A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. [2] For example, in the English language , the words begin , start , commence , and initiate are all synonyms of one another: they are synonymous .
It excludes combinations of words of French origin with words whose origin is a language other than French — e.g., ice cream, sunray, jellyfish, killjoy, lifeguard, and passageway— and English-made combinations of words of French origin — e.g., grapefruit (grape + fruit), layperson (lay + person), mailorder, magpie, marketplace, surrender ...
a descriptive phrase used in Germanic poetry, a modern learned word from Old Norse kenning in a special sense. [152] kick Of uncertain origin, perhaps from Old Norse kikn (="bend backwards, sink at the knees") [153] kid kið (="young goat") [154] kidnap From kid + a variant of nab, both of which are of Scandinavian origin. [155] kilt
The word has been around since the mid-19th century. Intended as a pejorative, the word is not commonly used today, though it retains that connotation. [2] [3] The term is thought to have originated in the 1850s as lime-juicer, [4] later shortened to "limey", [5] and was originally used as a derogatory word for sailors in the Royal Navy.
Get AOL Mail for FREE! Manage your email like never before with travel, photo & document views. Personalize your inbox with themes & tabs. You've Got Mail!
The origin of any particular word is also known as its etymology. For languages with a long written history , etymologists make use of texts, particularly texts about the language itself, to gather knowledge about how words were used during earlier periods, how they developed in meaning and form , or when and how they entered the language.