Language Lovers

Some of the best words that never were

A user of this website recently left a comment asking why we had chosen to mark as ‘rejected’ a word that another user had submitted. After all, the word had been invented and used by that person, so surely it should be included in the dictionary. This… Read More

Super-G, Beer and Bingo – Trending Words in March 2014

March may be the first month of Spring, but there was no indication in the weather, or in the news cycle, at the beginning of the month. We started well enough with the Paralympic Games in Sochi, Russia, during which Kelly Gallagher of Northern Ireland and her… Read More

Lucy Mangan learns some new words from the Greek Orthodox Church, as well as a new type of pasta

So, it looks like there may be an English word for schadenfreude after all. According to WritersCramp, it’s ‘epicaricacy‘ and covers the same convulsion of joy in another’s misfortune that the Teutonic loan does. What we lose in “Tuh – trust the Germans to have a word for… Read More

Lucy Mangan considers ‘komorebi’, ‘sitzfleisch’, and the proper pronunciation of ‘dog’…

Thank you so much, Colin T. McDonough, for submitting ‘komorebi‘. It’s a Japanese word that means “sunlight that filters through the trees – the interplay between light and leaves”. It’s mentioned in many places as being one of those ‘untranslatable’ words – which is to say, ones whose… Read More

Life as a polyglot

Being a polyglot often stems from the chances that are afforded to us, but is also about taking those chances. On the day that Fluent in 3 Months by polyglot Benny Lewis is published, we’ve asked a polyglot, Livia, to guide us through her language experiences. What are yours?… Read More

Lucy Mangan takes on the new CollinsDictionary.com word submissions

Sometimes I regret forsaking the life of regular income, pension contributions, paid leave, office banter, sexual intrigue and people bringing cakes in that I used to have when I worked for a city solicitors, for the solitary, impecunious, banterless, cakeless life of a freelance writer (as for the intrigue, forget… Read More

International Mother Language Day: What does it mean to have a mother language?

Today is UNESCO’s International Mother Language Day. To celebrate the power of language, we’ve asked three non-native English speakers to write about their experiences of having a mother language. Valerie, native French speaker ‘Ome Sweet ‘Ome “Where are you going on holiday?”“‘ome”… Read More

We’re off for a bit of wreckreation, followed by a bunny chow. Welcome to Lucy Mangan’s latest CollinsDictionary.com article!

In the Venn diagram of life there is for some reason I leave it to sociologists, psychologists and other people better qualified than I to fathom, a substantial overlap between eco-sensibility and word nerdery. I mean, I recycle everything, haven’t turned the heating on yet, and look at the sentence… Read More

Happy Valentines Day! Here are some international terms of endearment for your beloved

It’s Valentine’s Day! We hope you have a lovely day with, or find, your sweetheart! With the help of Collins language guru Paul Noble and Collins Dictionary consultants, we’ve put together this list of terms of endearment from other languages and cultures. So why not spice up your day by… Read More