Spanish word of the week: ojalá

28th Oct 2020

ojalá EXCLAMATION I hope; if only This is one of the many Spanish words which originate from Arabic (O Allah!). Originally it might have been used in fervent prayer, but now it means little more than I hope or the slightly more emotional if only. Don’t forget the upside… Read More

Months of awareness

28th Oct 2020

Last month, this month and the next two are great for practising Latin numerals, as you do: septem, octo, novem, decem (7, 8, 9, 10). But hang on a moment. Decem means ‘ten’, but December isn’t the tenth month. Or is it? Well, it was once, in the original Roman… Read More

From hiraeth to washi: discover the latest words added to the Collins Dictionary

23rd Oct 2020

Language experts are in broad agreement that English has one of the richest vocabularies of any language. Speakers of English have about twice as many words at their disposal than speakers of Spanish or Chinese have. This abundance is due to the way English was born out of a collision… Read More

Spanish word of the week: cuidado

21st Oct 2020

el cuidado NOUN care One of the basic meanings of cuidado is care: Esta blusa hay que lavarla con cuidado. This blouse needs to be washed with care. The phrase con cuidado often translates as carefully: Lo abrió con cuidado. He opened it carefully. And you can intensify cuidado… Read More

Spanish word of the week: parecer

14th Oct 2020

parecer VERB to think Parecer is a very common way of expressing what you think. You use it in the structure me parece que …, word for word ‘it seems to me that’: Me parece que no va a venir. I don’t think he’s going to come. As you… Read More

‘Hepatomegaly’ and ‘hydronephrosis’ are among the most frequently looked-up words in September

14th Oct 2020

You can get a certain insight into human nature from analysing the words that people look up in dictionaries. There are some words that seem to be of perennial interest, so if you compare the list of words that were looked up most often in March with the words that… Read More

World Space Week

9th Oct 2020

Today, 9 October, is the penultimate day of this year’s World Space Week, a UN event launched in 1999. Space Week falls at this calendar juncture because this first October week is bookended by two key dates. The fourth of October 1957 saw the launch of the Soviet… Read More

Spanish word of the week: aunque

7th Oct 2020

aunque CONJUNCTION although, though; even though; even if Aunque is a very commonly used linking word, or conjunction. Its main meaning is although or though: No esperaba eso de él, aunque entiendo por qué lo hizo. I wasn’t expecting that from him, although I can understand why… Read More

Scrabble Word Finder

6th Oct 2020

An instant check for words allowed in Scrabble™. Includes Scrabble word definitions and scores. Collins is the only online Scrabble word checker to use the official tournament word list, including over a quarter of a million permissible words. It’s endorsed by Mattel and the World English-Language Scrabble™ Players’ Association. Read More