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All Art & Creativity Business & Money Culture & Society Emotion & Psychology History & Civilization Human Nature & Behavior Language & Expression Life & Philosophy Love & Relationships Mind & Self Myth & Spirituality People & Identity Pop Culture Science & Nature Slang & Street Language Technology & Internet
A–Z Newest Featured

(eye-DEN-tih-fy)

Identify and identity are built around the same ancient idea: sameness. The Latin idem meant “the ...

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Algorithm (AL-guh-rith-um)

Every time someone says “the algorithm showed me this,” they are unknowingly echoing the name of...

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Altruism (AL-troo-iz-um)

Humans compete—but we also help. We give time to strangers. We protect people we love. We donate r...

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Ambiguity (am-bih-GYOO-uh-tee)

Language & Expression

Sometimes the problem isn’t that something has no meaning. It’s that it has more than one. A sen...

Ambition (am-BISH-un)

Ambition once meant walking around asking people for their votes. In ancient Rome, a person seeking ...

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Amor Fati (AH-mor FAH-tee)

Acceptance says, “This happened.” Amor fati asks something more difficult: Can you love that it ...

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Authenticity (aw-then-TIS-ih-tee)

Mind & Self
→ Found in Word Family

Authenticity wasn’t originally about “being yourself.” It was about proving that something was...

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Avatar (AV-uh-tar)

Today, an avatar might be a cartoon face, a gaming character, or a realistic digital version of your...

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Bootylicious (boo-tee-LISH-us)

Bootylicious sounds like a word invented for a pop song, but its story is more complicated. Built by...

Brainiac (BRAY-nee-ak)

Pop Culture

Brainiac sounds as though it should have emerged from a psychology laboratory. It actually came from...

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Calculation (kal-kyuh-LAY-shun)

Science & Nature

Before calculations were numbers on a screen, they were stones in your hand. A pebble could represen...

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Catharsis (kuh-THAR-sis)

Emotion & Psychology

Catharsis originally meant cleansing. The ancient Greeks used katharsis for purification, and Aristo...

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Chakra (CHAH-kruh)

Chakra literally means “wheel.” Yet the brightly colored seven-wheel diagram familiar today tell...

Charisma (kuh-RIZ-muh)

Charisma once belonged more to the language of miracles than popularity. Its Greek ancestor kharisma...

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Clairvoyant (klair-VOY-uhnt)

Myth & Spirituality

Clairvoyant literally means “clear-seeing.” But the seeing described by the modern word supposed...

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Clarity (KLAIR-ih-tee)

Before clarity described a state of mind, it described something closer to brightness. Its Latin anc...

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Coercion (koh-UR-zhun)

Coercion begins where genuine choice starts disappearing. A person may technically say “yes,” si...

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Cognitive (KOG-nuh-tiv)

Mind & Self

Your brain is constantly receiving information, interpreting what you see and hear, retrieving memor...

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Cohesion (koh-HEE-zhun)

Culture & Society

Cohesion begins with a remarkably physical idea: sticking together. Its Latin ancestor cohaerere des...

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Compassion (kuhm-PASH-un)

Emotion & Psychology

Empathy can help you feel another person’s pain. Compassion asks what you might do about it. The h...

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Compulsion (kum-PUHL-shun)

Compulsion began with force coming from the outside. Its Latin ancestor compellere meant to drive or...

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Confidence (KON-fih-dens)

Confidence begins with trust. Hidden inside the word is the Latin fidere—“to trust”—the same...

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Content (KON-tent / kuhn-TENT)

Language & Expression

The content you create and the content you feel are spelled exactly the same—but they lead to very...

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Courage (KUR-ij)

Before courage meant bravery, it meant heart. Its deepest ancestor is the Latin cor, the word for th...

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Cryptic (KRIP-tik)

Language & Expression

Cryptic literally has “hidden” buried inside it. Greek kryptos meant “hidden” or “conceale...

Curiosity (kyoor-ee-OSS-ih-tee)

Curiosity begins with care. Its linguistic ancestry reaches back to the Latin cura, a word associate...

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Deadline (DED-line)

Business & Money

A deadline wasn’t originally a date on your calendar. It was a line you weren’t supposed to cros...

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Déjà Vu (day-zhah VOO)

You enter a room you’ve never visited, someone begins speaking—and suddenly something feels impo...

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Discipline (DIS-uh-plin)

Discipline did not begin as a word for punishment. Hidden inside it is the student. Its Latin ancest...

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Divine (dih-VYNE)

Myth & Spirituality

To call something divine was once to place it directly in the realm of the gods. Latin divinus descr...

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Dystopia (dis-TOH-pee-uh)

Life & Philosophy

A dystopia is literally a “bad place.” The word was built as a dark counterpart to utopia. Inste...

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Ego (EE-goh)

Ego sounds like a complicated psychological concept, but its origin could hardly be simpler: it mean...

Empathy (EM-puh-thee)

Empathy is surprisingly young as an English word. Its story begins with the German Einfühlung—lit...

Enantiodromia (en-AN-tee-oh-DROH-mee-uh)

Enantiodromia gives a name to a fascinating pattern: sometimes an extreme contains the beginnings of...

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Energy (EN-er-jee)

Science & Nature

Hidden inside the word energy is an ancient idea: being at work. A falling stone has it. Sunlight ca...

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Entrepreneur (ahn-truh-pruh-NUR)

Business & Money

Before an entrepreneur was imagined as a startup founder pitching investors, the word meant somethin...

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Entropy (EN-truh-pee)

Science & Nature

Build a sandcastle and leave it to the wind and waves. Organize a room and then live in it. Create a...

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Ephemeral (ih-FEM-er-uhl)

Life & Philosophy

A sunset disappears. A flower blooms and fades. A conversation ends. A generation comes and goes. Th...

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Epiphany (ih-PIF-uh-nee)

An epiphany was once an appearance. Its Greek ancestor epiphaneia described something revealing itse...

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Equanimity (ee-kwuh-NIM-uh-tee)

Mind & Self

Life constantly pulls the mind in different directions—success and failure, praise and criticism, ...

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Ethereal (ih-THEER-ee-uhl)

Language & Expression

Some things seem to belong to another world. Light breaking through clouds. Mist floating over mount...

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Eudaimonia (yoo-dye-MOH-nee-uh)

Life & Philosophy

Happiness can describe a moment. Eudaimonia describes a life. The Greeks recognized that feeling goo...

Euphoria (yoo-FOR-ee-uh)

Euphoria has traveled a surprising distance from its beginnings. Its Greek roots did not describe wi...

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Failure (FAYL-yer)

Failure feels final, but its history tells a more complicated story. Its linguistic ancestors carrie...

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Fibonacci (fib-uh-NAH-chee)

Fibonacci is often introduced as the man who invented a mysterious sequence hidden throughout nature...

Freedom (FREE-dum)

Freedom contains an ancient distinction that once shaped a person’s entire existence: were you fre...

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God (GAHD)

Myth & Spirituality

The English word God is older than Christianity in England. Before Anglo-Saxon peoples converted to ...

Google (GOO-guhl)
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Google (GOO-guhl)

Few brand names have become verbs as naturally as Google. Its name traces back to “googol,” a ma...

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Gratitude (GRAT-ih-tood)

Emotion & Psychology

Gratitude does not necessarily change what you have. It changes what you notice. Two people can expe...

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Grit (GRIT)

Human Nature & Behavior

Grit started with stone. It ended up describing people. Sand is rough. Gravel resists pressure. And ...

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Humility (hyoo-MIL-uh-tee)

Human Nature & Behavior

Humility comes from a word connected to the ground. That image still fits remarkably well. Success c...

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Hygge (HOO-guh)

→ Found in Word Family

Hygge is difficult to photograph without showing candles, blankets, and steaming cups of coffee—bu...

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Impervious (im-PUR-vee-us)

There is literally a road hidden inside impervious. Latin via meant “way” or “road,” while p...

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Ineffable (in-EFF-uh-buhl)

Language & Expression

Language gives us thousands of ways to describe what we experience—but sometimes words seem too sm...

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Infinite (IN-fuh-nit)

Infinite is built around a remarkably simple idea: something that never reaches its boundary. Its La...

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Influencer (IN-floo-en-ser)

Technology & Internet

Long before influencers had followers, sponsorships, or smartphones, influence was imagined as somet...

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Innately (ih-NAYT-lee)

Innately carries an ancient image inside it: something “born within.” Its Latin ancestry reaches...

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Integrity (in-TEG-rih-tee)

Human Nature & Behavior

Integrity is who you are when compromise would be easier. The history of the word begins with being ...

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Intuition (in-too-ISH-un)

Intuition feels like knowledge arriving before its explanation. The word traces back to a Latin verb...

Joyous (JOY-us)

Joyous is happiness that refuses to stay hidden. The word traveled into English through Old French, ...

Laborious (luh-BOR-ee-us)

Laborious carries the weight of work inside the word itself. Its Latin ancestor labor did not simply...

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Legacy (LEG-uh-see)

A legacy was once something you could inherit. Money, property, or possessions passed through a will...

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Lexicon (LEK-sih-kon)

A lexicon is more than a list of words. Its story begins with the Greek lexis—a word, expression, ...

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Life (LYFE)

Life & Philosophy

Life is a small word for an enormous mystery. A cell divides. A seed grows toward light. A child bec...

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Limerence (LIM-er-ens)

Love & Relationships

Sometimes what feels like love may be limerence. Dorothy Tennov noticed that some people described f...

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Logophile (LOG-uh-fyle)

Language & Expression

Some people collect coins. Others collect records, art, or books. A logophile collects words. A stra...

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Luxury (LUK-shuh-ree)

Business & Money

Luxury wasn’t originally a compliment. Its Latin ancestor luxuria evoked excess, extravagance, and...

Melancholy (MEL-un-kol-ee)

Hidden inside “melancholy” is an abandoned theory of the human body. Ancient physicians believed...

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Meme (MEEM)

Long before memes filled social-media feeds, meme was a word about cultural evolution. Richard Dawki...

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Memento Mori (meh-MEN-toh MOR-ee)

Remember that you must die. Few expressions confront the reader as directly as memento mori. Yet its...

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Metacognition (met-uh-kog-NISH-un)

Mind & Self

Your brain can solve a problem. But it can also do something remarkable: notice how it is trying to ...

Mm

→ Found in Origin

...

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Narcissism (NAR-sih-siz-um)

Emotion & Psychology

According to the famous Greek myth, Narcissus became captivated by an image he did not initially rec...

Nostalgia (nos-TAL-juh)

Nostalgia was once considered an illness. When Johannes Hofer coined the word in the seventeenth cen...

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Ominous (OM-uh-nus)

Language & Expression

Ominous is the feeling that something is coming before you know what it is. The sky turns an unnatur...

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Optimism (OP-tuh-miz-um)

Optimism originally wasn’t just about looking on the bright side. It emerged from a much bigger ph...

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Pandemonium (pan-duh-MOH-nee-um)

Language & Expression

Pandemonium was invented before it became something you could experience. In 1667, John Milton neede...

Perpetual (per-PECH-oo-uhl)

Perpetual is a word that resists the ending. Its Latin ancestor perpetuus described something contin...

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Perseverance (pur-suh-VEER-uhns)

Human Nature & Behavior

Starting takes motivation. Continuing takes perseverance. Almost every meaningful pursuit eventually...

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Pessimism (PESS-uh-miz-um)

Mind & Self

Optimism comes from the idea of the “best.” Pessimism comes from the “worst.” Between those ...

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Petrichor (PET-ri-kor)

Science & Nature

Humans knew the smell long before we had a word for it. Then, in 1964, two Australian researchers ga...

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Polarity (poh-LAIR-uh-tee)

Science & Nature

A magnet provides one of the clearest pictures of polarity: north and south, two opposing poles belo...

Pragmatic (prag-MAT-ik)

Pragmatic comes from a family of words centered on one fundamental idea: doing. Its Greek ancestor p...

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Purpose (PUR-pus)

Hidden inside purpose is the idea of putting something forward. Its distant Latin ancestor, proponer...

Resilience (rih-ZIL-yuhns)

Before resilience described strength of character, it described something much more physical: bounci...

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Robot (ROH-bot)

Before robot meant a machine, it meant work—and not pleasant work. Its ancestor, Czech robota, ref...

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Salary (SAL-uh-ree)

Business & Money

There is salt hiding inside your salary. The word ultimately traces to Latin sal, “salt,” throug...

Salvation (sal-VAY-shun)

Hidden inside salvation is an idea even more fundamental than rescue: being safe and whole. Its Lati...

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Saudade (sow-DAH-duh)

Saudade lives somewhere between having loved something and having lost its presence. You might feel ...

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Schadenfreude (SHAH-den-froy-duh)

Some emotions are uncomfortable enough that we would rather not admit having them. Schadenfreude giv...

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Serendipity (ser-en-DIP-ih-tee)

Serendipity is a word about the magic of finding what you were never searching for. Horace Walpole c...

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Slug (SLUG)

Language & Expression

How did a slimy garden creature end up inside a website? Because slug isn’t simply one word that j...

Solace (SOL-is)

Solace is comfort that matters because something hurts. Its history reaches back to the Latin solac...

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Solitude (SOL-ih-tood)

Solitude is more than simply being alone. Its root comes from the Latin solus—“alone”—but th...

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Sonder (SON-der)

Mind & Self

Look through the window of a crowded café. Someone is celebrating. Someone is worried about money. ...

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Spam (SPAM)

One of the internet’s most familiar words began inside a can. SPAM was already a famous food when ...

Stoic (STOH-ik)

One of history’s most influential philosophies is essentially named after a porch. Around 300 BCE,...

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Sublimation (sub-luh-MAY-shun)

Science & Nature

Sublimation is a word about transformation. Dry ice seems to disappear into vapor without first beco...

Subservient (sub-SUR-vee-uhnt)

The structure of subservient almost tells its story by itself: sub, meaning “under,” and a root ...

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Success (suk-SESS)

Success did not begin as a word for winning. Hidden inside it is the Latin cedere—“to go”—an...

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Synchronicity (sin-kruh-NISS-uh-tee)

Mind & Self

Have you ever thought about someone—and seconds later they called? Carl Jung became fascinated by ...

testing

Life & Philosophy Mind & Self

asdfasdf...

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Time (TYME)

Life & Philosophy

You can measure time, spend time, waste time, save time, lose track of time—and yet you cannot hol...

Tranche (TRAHNSH)

Tranche sounds like specialized Wall Street vocabulary, but its underlying image is remarkably simpl...

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Ubuntu (oo-BOON-too)

Ubuntu challenges the idea that a person exists entirely alone. Its meaning is often summarized thro...

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Unconscious (un-KON-shus)

Your mind is doing things you never consciously tell it to do. You recognize patterns, form impressi...

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Viral (VY-rul)

Before a video could go viral, only viruses did. The metaphor works because both depend on transmiss...

Vulnerability (vul-nuh-ruh-BIL-ih-tee)

There is a wound hidden inside vulnerability. The word descends from Latin vulnus—“wound”—an...

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Wanderlust (WON-der-lust)

Wanderlust is more than wanting a vacation. Hidden inside the word is something more restless: the d...

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Wisdom (WIZ-dum)

Wisdom and knowledge are easy to confuse, but English has distinguished them for centuries. The Old ...

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Word: Brave (BRAYV)

Brave does not mean fearless. The word has traveled through centuries of European language, carrying...

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Word: Persistent (per-SIS-tuhnt)

Hidden inside persistent is the image of standing your ground. Its Latin ancestor persistere combine...

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Zen (ZEN)

Zen is a word that traveled across languages and civilizations. It began with Sanskrit dhyāna, a wo...