Writing is not sounds written down. The primary function of English spelling is to represent meaning. Sounds do matter, but not just any grapheme can spell any sound. The grapheme that spells a sound in a word is informed by meaning, relatives, and etymology. If writing were sounds written down, why does English have so […] More
<tract> “draw, drag, move,” from stem of trahere “to pull, draw” Words Sums Tract -> tract Tract + s -> tracts Tract + or -> tractor Tract + or + s -> tractors Tract + or + Beam -> tractorbeam Tract + or + Beam + s -> tractorbeams Tract + ion -> traction Tract + ion […] More
<beau> “pretty, handsome, charming,” from Anglo-French beute, Old French biauté, earlier beltet, from Vulgar Latin *bellitatem (nominative bellitas), from Latin bellus “pretty, handsome, charming” Words Sums Beau -> beau Beau + ty -> beauty Beau + ty + es -> beauties Beau + ty + ful -> beautiful Beau + ty + ful + ly -> beautifully Beau + ty + ful […] More
<augur(e)> “predict, foretell” from French inauguration and directly from Late Latin inaugurationem, presumably originally “installment under good omens,” from in– “on, in” + augurare “to act as an augur, predict” Words Sums Augur(e) -> augur Augur(e) + s -> augurs Augur(e) + y -> augury in + Augur(e) + ate -> inaugurate in + Augur(e) […] More
<thank> “thought, gratitude; think, feel,” from Old English þancian, þoncian, compare related Old English noun þanc, þonc Words Sums Thank + s -> thanks Thank + ed -> thanked Thank + ing -> thanking Thank + ful -> thankful Thank + ful + ness -> thankfulness Thank + ful + ly -> thankfully un + Thank + ful -> […] More
<sign> from Latin signum “identifying mark, token, indication, symbol; proof” Words Sums (248) Sign -> sign Sign + s -> signs Sign + ed -> signed Sign + ing -> signing Sign + ing + s -> signings Sign + er -> signer Sign + er + s -> signers Sign + ee -> signee […] More
English is rule-based. I repeat: Like all languages, English is rule-based. A tweet recently appeared in my Twitter feed in which Merriam-Webster, the dictionary, touted the nonsense that English rejects order. “Because English rejects order. It actively opposes it. It lures order into an empty house and sets a series of Home Alone-style traps to […] More
Yesterday I introduced my 5-year-old to the words <talk> and <walk>. He knows that graphemes can spell sounds, specifically that <l> can spell [l]. But he also knows that letters can perform other functions. Some letters are zeroed. Others are markers. The letter <l> can function as an etymological marker. Both <talk> and <walk> (along […] More
Yesterday I posted on my social media about the spelling of the word <broad>. I just introduced the <oa> grapheme to my 5-year-old. The digraph <oa> typically spells the phone [oʊ] as in <oak>, <boat>, <soap>, <road>, and <hoax>. So why does the <broad> spell [bɹɔd] (or [bɹɑd] in Englishes with the cot-caught merger)? The […] More
I always misspell the word <relevant> as <*relavant> based on a thinking that <relevant> is related to <relative>. I recently decided to look up <relevant> to do a word study in the hopes of teaching myself the correct spelling. If SWI could help me remember the spelling of <tomorrow> by learning that <To + Morrow […] More
I grew up in the 1990s. I entered kindergarten in 1990 and began learning to read that year. Phonics and sight words still stick out for me. I remember being handed lists of “sight words” to learn to read and spell. I would ask questions like “why is X spelled ABC?” The only answers I […] More
You never know where a word study will take you. A while back, my oldest and I did a word study on <cat>. While looking the base up in multiple online dictionaries, I noticed that <cat> is also a street name for a drug called <methcathinone>, which I looked up and discovered is also called […] More
