No, this word doesn’t size up your Quidditch skills. It literally means “whatness,” formed from the Latin quid, or “what.” Quiddity was introduced as a philosophical term in the Middle Ages for “what ...

Interest is another Latin verb hiding in plain sight. In Latin, it means “it is important,” literally “to be between,” which might help explain its early application in English for legal and business ...

Professor Roly Sussex explains why we're using many Latin words in everyday English and highlights some of the commonly used words. For daily English language lessons and tips, like our Learn English ...

Many legal words include silent letters. For example, what possible reason could there be for including a "c" in the word "indict" or a "b" in the word "doubt"? The inclusion of these seemingly ...

A Janus word or phrase has two meanings, each the opposite of the other. Janus words are named after the two-faced Roman god of archways and doors, Janus. There are many such words in English, the ...

Put down your wands and open a dictionary. While we're all still waiting for our Hogwarts letters to arrive, most Harry Potter fans already know several basic spells to help them through the wizarding ...