Linguistics Girl: The Linguistic Librarian is all about language. Learn about the phonology, morphology, and syntax of the English language as well as linguistic theories and more about language in general. The mission of Linguistics Girl is to provide information about all things linguistic to all readers interested in language. Linguistics Girl is written by Heather Johnson.
<thauma> “wonder, astonishment, thing to look at, miracle,” from Greek thauma (genitive thaumatos), literally “a thing to look at,” from root of theater Words Sums Thauma Thauma + s = thaumas Thauma + Trope = thaumatrope Thauma + Trope + s = thaumatropes Thauma + Vore = thaumavore Thauma + Vore + s = thaumavores […] More
<ichor> “ethereal fluid that serves for blood in the veins of the gods,” from French ichor or Modern Latin ichor, from Greek ikhōr Word Sums Ichor Ichor + s -> ichors Ichor + ous -> ichorous Ichor + Heme + i + a -> ichorhemia Petr + Ichor -> petrichor Morphemes ichor: ethereal fluid that […] More
<morrow> “morning” from Middle English morwe, variant of morwen, from Old English morgen Word Sums Morrow Morrow + s = morrows Morrow + ed = morrowed Morrow + ing = To + Morrow = tomorrow To + Morrow + s = tomorrows To + Morrow + er = tomorrower To + Morrow + er […] More
Notional grammars define adjectives as “words that describe nouns.” Big, cute, green, small, and wonky are prototypical adjectives. In big bully, The baby is cute, and I painted the wall green, each adjective describes a noun. Big describes the noun bully, cute describes the noun baby, and green describes the noun wall. However, stating that […] More
I recently tweeted my post entitled Using Nouns and Noun Phrases as Indirect Objects. To my tweet, I received a comment that argued that, although the cat in I gave the cat a bath is indeed a recipient, the cat is not an indirect object but rather a direct object. Analyzing the cat as a […] More
<aqu> “water” from Latin aqua “water, the sea, rain” Word Sums Aqu + a -> aqua Aqu + a + s -> aquas Aqu + ate + ic -> aquatic Aqu + ate + ic + s -> aquatics Aqu + ate + ic + al + ly -> aquatically Aqu + a + Mare […] More
<birth> “bear offspring,” from Old Norse burðr, byrd, replacing Old English ġebyrd “birth, descent, race; offspring; nature; fate,” from PIE *bhrto past participle of root *bher- “to carry; to bear children” with -th suffix meaning “process” Word Sums Birth Birth + s = births Birth + ed = birthed Birth + ing = birthing Birth […] More
<talc> from Middle French talc, probably from Spanish talco and Medieval Latin talcus, also talcum “talc” from Arabic talq, from Persian talk “talc” (Note: One English spelling rule is to add a k when affixing a suffix that begins with an e, i, or y to a word that ends in c to preserve the […] More
“What’s wrong with you?” posits the Oxford Dictionaries. But, seriously, what’s up with the oddness that is the second person personal pronoun in English: you. Spanish has six ways of referring to you: tú, vos, usted, vosotros, vosotras, and ustedes. German has eight: du, dich, dir, ihr, euch, Sie, Ihnen. Why does English have only […] More
<wint(e)r> Old English winter (plural wintru) “fourth and coldest season of the year” Words Sums Wint(e)r = winter Wint(e)r + s = winters Wint(e)r + ed = wintered Wint(e)r + ing = wintering Wint(e)r + ish = winterish Wint(e)r + y = wintery Wint(e)r + y + er = winterier Wint(e)r + y + est […] More
<solve> “disperse, dissipate, loosen” from Latin solvere Word Sums Solve Solve + s = solves Solve + ed = solved Solve + ing = solving Solve + er = solver Solve + er + s = solvers Solve + ate = solvate Solve + ate + s = solvates Solve + ate + ed = […] More
<lact> “milk” from Latin lac (genitive lactis) “milk” Word Sums Lact + ate = lactate Lact + ate + s = lactates Lact + ate + ed = lactated Lact + ate + ing = lactating Lact + ate + ion = lactation Lact + ate + ion + s = lactations Lact + ate […] More