English Flashcards
“Bumbershoot” is Britspeak for one of these.
Umbrella
The Chinese title of the Chinese Industrial Cooperative Society, understood by an American Marine Corps officer to mean “work together,” provided the elements for a term that has evolved to mean “enthusiastic” or “energetic.” What is that term?
Gung-Ho
The name of the ruler (and satrap of the Persian emperor) buried at the Tomb at Halicarnassus, one of the seven ancient wonders of the world, is the source of what word (which is, essentially, what the structure was)?
Mausoleum
What portmanteau was allegedly coined in 1895 for a novel and fashionable accommodation to the dining needs of “Saturday-night carousers” (and their attendant difficulties with early rising on Sundays)?
Brunch
What word can refer to a brand of hummus, a term for a Jew born on Israeli soil, a Beirut refugee camp whose bleak history is perhaps best known for a 1982 massacre, or, less seriously, a parody edition of a beloved game show where you buy fine electronics with “Sony guts” whether you want to or not?
Sabra
What is the term from phonetics for the gliding of two vowel sounds within a single syllable, such as in the English words wife, joy, brain, and (in New York) coffee and dog?
Diphthong
In compound nouns, what seven-letter gerund may follow words including “frequency”, “bed”, “channel”, “bar” and “island”? Alone, the same word may refer to the use of a traditional flavoring agent in beer.
Hopping
Although there are numerous examples in the works of Shakespeare and other authors, putting the word “from” before what six-letter adverb is often cited as a solecism, because its meaning is already “from what place.”
Whence
What is the term for a phrase that contains all of the letters of the alphabet. For example, “the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.”
Pangram
What do you call the combination of a question mark and exclamation mark (i.e., !?).
Interrobang
Describing a sharp tone, this 6-letter adjective is also a verb meaning “to scream.”
Shrill
Referring to the bright blue of the sky, this color comes from the Persian name for lapis lazuli.
Azure
The adjective pyroclastic refers to fragments that can dangerously blast away from one of these.
Volcano
Originally an electronics word for an output signal returning as input, today it means “criticism” or “evaluation.”
Feedback
The dialectical word “yinz,” common in Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania, is used as a replacement for what word?
You
It’s come to mean immune to criticism; it was discovered by DuPont chemist Roy Plunkett in 1938.
Teflon
The irregularity of spelling in English and need for orthographic reform have been famously demonstrated in a mischievous re-spelling of “fish” incorrectly attributed to George Bernard Shaw. What is the correct spelling of that novel five-letter word?
Ghoti
This English word is a combination of the French words for “wine” and “sour.”
Vinegar
This English word is a combination of the French words for “cover” and “fire.”
Curfew
This English word is a variation of the French words for “lion’s teeth.”
Dandelion
This English word is a combination of the French words for “pig” and “spiky.”
Porcupine
The spelling of this English word is related to its origin in the French city of Nîmes.
Denim
This English word is a combination of the French words for “death” and “pledge.”
Mortgage
This English term is a variation of the French phrase “come help me.”
Mayday
A two-syllable adjective for a comment that sums things up in a few words.
Pithy
A statistical term or a synonym for ordinary, this adjective may have come from Arabic for “damaged goods.”
Average
Change three letters in “maleficent” to get this word for “generous.”
Munificent
This word dates back to the 19th century and referred to what the sun did to roofless seating.
Bleachers
An “ailurophile” is somebody who likes this.
Cats
This term of a villain’s minion or underling once meant a highland chief’s right-hand man.
Henchman
“Basiphobia” is a fear of what?
Falling
It’s the proper term for someone who writes or compiles a dictionary.
Lexicographer
Adding “P” to a word for a chronic back condition gets you this synonym for graphite or pencil lead.
Plumbago
What kind of animal is described jumping by the most famous English “pangram”?
(Quick brown) Fox
An agricultural device gives its name to what term for a U-shaped bend in a river? The term is also used for a lake formed when a river bend becomes so sharp that the river cuts through the narrow neck of land in the middle.
Oxbow
The term for the cartilaginous flap that covers the opening of the windpipe is one example of the use of what three-letter prefix that indicates “above,” “over,” or “upon”?
Epi (Epiglottis)
The name for what vocation could be considered outdated, as its namesake chemical element (from Latin) has largely been banned for use by its tradesmen for decades?
Plumber
What English word, derogatory (and arguably offensive) in modern usage, comes from the name for a secretive gang of murderers and robbers devoted to the Hindu god Kali?
Thug
This is the process of removing material from one part of a water environment and relocating it to another.
Dredging
c. 1666 a British work used this word for a literal barrier; a 1971 text on operating system principles gave it a new sense.
Firewall
After Caesar’s death, some Romans believed he was “catasterized” meaning he was turned into what?
Star / Celestial Object
Beginning and ending with “M”, it’s a wise saying or rule of conduct.
Maxim
These two words are just one letter different; one is a whirlpool and the other a geometry term for a meeting point.
Vortex, Vertex
While in its more common noun form it denotes a particular time of year, when used as an adjective this word means to be marked by majestic dignity or grandeur.
August
This adjective’s historical meaning refers to the particolored costume of a jester. Today it refers to something that is incongruously varied in appearance or character.
Motley
Add an “s” to this word meaning “acrid” and you get a cocktail ingredient that helps in digestion.
Bitters
It was originally a string, perhaps to help find your way in a labyrinth; then it was a piece of evidence that helps solve a crime.
Clue
This 8-letter word for a reaction against a trend comes from an engineering term for a jolt caused by a gap in machine parts.
Backlash
NASA wished John Glenn this 8-letter word when he made the 1st U.S. manned orbital flight in 1962 and again upon his passing in 2016.
Godspeed
What do you call the dot at the top of a lowercase i or j?
Tittle
An archaic word that the Oxford English Dictionary defines as “to move with force or impetus” is rarely used today, except, in adjective form, in the title of a classic 1840s novel. What is that word?
Wuther (Wuthering Heights)
This term refers to the deliberate sinking of a ship by allowing water to flow into the hull. A famous example of this is the German fleet outside of Scotland’s Scapa Flow after World War I.
Scuttling
Meaning “Stop!”, this nautical interjection is often heard before “ye matey”
Avast
Term for the process by which new groups adopt the language, values and customs of a host culture.
Assimilation
This adjectival form of a structure created by Daedalus refers to something that winds and winds.
Labyrinthine
Prefab metal sheets used to print newspapers gave us this term for standard wording, as in contracts.
Boilerplate
What word’s definitions include “excessive pride in oneself”, “an elaborate metaphor”, and “an extended rhetorical device”?
Conceit
Deriving from a term used by the native Salish tribes of the Pacific Northwest that roughly translates as “wild man”, what name was coined by a Canadian cryptozoologist in the 1920s to describe an evasive entity that was supposedly stirring up fear among the locals?
Sasquatch
One example of a contronym—a word that has contradictory meanings based on context—is a word that means both “confidently optimistic” and “bloodthirsty”. What is that word?
Sanguine
What word, an 8-letter, 20 point Scrabble word (70 points, if you count the BINGO for using all your tiles), is the shortest word in the English language that uses each of the letters a, b, c, d, e, and f? If you don’t like this question, I’d certainly like to know.
Feedback
What sociology term was borrowed into English from a Tongan word cognate with the Hawaiian “kapu”?
The Tongan equivalent is “tabu,” which is where we get our word “taboo,” for a cultural no-no.
Preceded by “un”, it means mysterious; we want the 5-letter version meaning clever.
Canny
Now meaning “behaving badly”, this adjective comes from a word meaning “nothing”.
Naughty
The name of what modern scientific discipline originally referred to skills of rhetoric and debate?
“Forensics” used to refer to oratorical skill in the pre-CSI era.
What familiar word refers to a common, often age-related medical disorder and is also a geographical term synonymous with “powerful waterfall” (and in fact comes directly from the Latin for “waterfall”)?
Cataract
What word, defined as a large trunk or suitcase used for traveling, is perhaps better known in its newer, literary sense, as coined and utilized frequently by Lewis Carroll?
Portmanteau
