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. 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… 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

Scrabble Tools

6th Oct 2020

Scrabble™ Software Downloads temporarily unavailable. We are working to minimise the period of unavailability, but we are not presently able to advise when the Scrabble™ Tools will be back online. Read More

Scrabble Help

6th Oct 2020

Collins is the Official Scrabble™ publisher, with over 279,000 playable words, Collins Scrabble™ books are used across the globe to settle Scrabble™ squabbles at every level. Whether a tournament player, a Scrabble™ champion-in-training or just playing for fun, the Collins Scrabble™ range caters for players’ needs. Discover the full range… Read More