Language

The pet name Andy appeared in the 1920s – and became widespread from the 1980s

Some words have two unconnected meanings – others have simply drifted apart

Exploring sporting polysemy – the cases where a single word has several different, even if often related, meanings

The pleasure dome and sacred river were opium fantasies – but it was a place where the world met to trade

We’re getting footballer Haaland’s name wrong - and it originally had an å rather than a double A too

Its name comes from an indigenous North American language that requires a trick of the throat

The curious history of language purists hating ‘mongrel’ words

The president has put the islands’ fate back on the table – without asking the islanders

French Protestants came in search of religious freedom. Then the Glorious Revolution changed everything

The answer to a question about an old English grandma lies in Old English grammar

A cataract operation left me with pseudophakia – the happy condition of having an artificial lens

In countries like Britain with no strong baby naming traditions, Lily, Ivy and Elsie can disappear for decades before returning to popularity

Which syllables should be stressed is a cause of stress – so here’s a guide

The origin of the hat’s name comes from the location of berries used to dye its felt

From Ashkenazi roots to German titles, the surname of Israel’s president carries centuries of meaning

Franz Xaver Mozart is known as ‘FX’ – because English speakers are baffled by his middle name

Authoritarian governments have pushed Farsi’s dominance – but 59 other languages still thrive

Enough! Just stop using ‘til when it should be till

Ski-slope bump or influential person? Two similar-sounding but unrelated words have merged

How a genuinely old dialect word became part of a made-up East Anglian pub game

The art of slipping away from a party without saying goodbye is known across the Channel as ‘leaving in the English style’

How a Greek word for sanctuary became one of the most contested terms in modern English

Despite its strong association with US sport and policing, the term ‘rookie’ has a complicated history

Some familiar words we use in everyday English carry surprising traces of Malay, a language spoken widely across south-east Asia

How biology, physics and geography came to define the structure and range of the human voice