Wordplay

 For the love of language

The Longest Long Words List

21 words with 21 letters or more

Pilfer: How to Play and Win

Welcome to our newest word game

15 Bird Sounds and the Birds Who Make Them

15 bird sounds, and the birds who make them

Popular

Terroir, Oenophile, & Magnum: Ten Words About Wine

Raise a glass to some full-bodied vocabulary.

8 Words for Lesser-Known Musical Instruments

Our maraca shake brings all the hautbois to the yard

10 Words from Taylor Swift Songs (Merriam's Version)

Look what you made us do

9 Superb Owl Words

Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you all? We do!

15 Words That Used to Mean Something Different

Including the secret history of 'secretary'

10 Words for Lesser-Known Games and Sports

Are you ready for some stoolball?

Ahoy! Ten Words for Talking Like a Pirate

Whether on International Talk Like a Pirate Day or any day!

Words for Lazy People and Laziness

Indolence, Malingerer, Draffsack: the right word for when you just don't have the energy

Word Choices

Gabrielle Zevin

Novelist

Emily Flake

New Yorker Cartoonist

Celeste Ng

Novelist

Eli Cymet

Video Game Writer/Producer, Cuphead

Emma Straub

Novelist and Children’s Book Author

Arts & Culture

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7 Words from Political Scandals

Behind the smoke-filled rooms

10 Phrases from Shakespeare

Where the "wild goose chase" comes from

Has ‘supper’ always meant ‘dinner?'

Your grandmother might answer differently.

11 Words Used to Great Effect by Edgar Allan Poe

The Vocabulary in the Rue Morgue

How a Word Gets into the Dictionary

What our editors are looking for when they enter words in Merriam-Webster.
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Obscure & Fun

Obscure & Fun

12 Words from the Wrong Side of the Law

Crime doesn't pay, but vocabulary might

Foreign

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10 English Words from Dutch

Learn how to tell your caboodle from your caboose

10 of Our Favourite British Words

Please don't whinge about being knackered, you prat.

'In Vino Veritas' and Other Latin Phrases to Live By

Top 10 Latin Phrases

10 Words from Nahuatl, the Language of the Aztecs

Avocado, chocolate, and more

A Guide to the Names of French Sauces

17 saucy terms (and how to say them)
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Games & Hobbies

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A Player's Guide to 'Q' without 'U' Words

Remember this and win.

Know Your Baseball Idioms

Our national pastime. No, the other one.

Are You Ready for Some Football (Words)?

So you can do more than smile and nod when talking about the big game

The Scoop on 'The Proof Is in the Pudding'

A delicious question

Why 'Love' Means "Nothing"

In tennis. This is about tennis.
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Insults

Insults

Better Ways to Say "This Sucks"

Your day is the worst. Your vocabulary is the best.

Science & Nature

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7 Common Idioms That Come from Chickens

Don't ask us which came first

12 Bird Names that Sound Like Compliments

From the godwits at your favorite dictionary

'Opossum,' O Lovely 'Possum'

On a marsupial with various names

'Blue Moon,' 'Wolf Moon,' and Other Moons to Look for Throughout the Year

More moons than you can shake a stick at

What is a 'coulrophobe' so afraid of?

Unusual Phobias, Vol. 2
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Word History

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Quick: Read This!

'Quick' once had a very different meaning

Funner, Stupider, and Other Words That Are in Fact Real

Don't argue with the dictionary

Etymologies for Every Day of the Week

The sun, the moon, four gods, and a goddess.

14 Words Inspired by Dogs

A lexicographer's best friend

7 Good Stories That Just Aren't True

No, that's not where that word comes from
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