‘Kalette’, ‘mammophant’ and ‘nooch’ – Lucy Mangan takes a look at your latest word contributions

Let’s start with the good news, shall we? It won’t take long. Mammoths are back! Nearly! Sort of. Sort of nearly. No, not nearly. But maybe, one day, almost as many years from now as they have currently been absent. Let us not concern ourselves with details. The important thing… Read More

How the Collins Thesaurus is compiled

The Collins Thesaurus has been compiled with reference to the Collins Corpus, a unique database of over 4.5 billion words which enables our experienced lexicographers to research current usage and how language is changing. The Collins Corpus contains material gathered from a wide variety of sources such as… Read More

The Collins Thesaurus in detail

The Collins Thesaurus contains lots of information. Let’s look at it in detail. The entry word list has been selected on the basis of frequency as determined by the Collins Corpus, which means that the entry words given are those most likely to be looked up by our users. Read More

Discover the language of luuuurve with Paul Noble

Language should never stand in the way of LOVE! – here’s a helping hand from language expert Paul Noble so you can charm the Senoritas, Monsieur’s and gente meravigliosa’s (beautiful people) of the world! Learn the language of love with Paul Noble’s range of language guides. Read More

Happy Valentine’s Day! We take a look at the etymology behind the word ‘valentine’

Valentine The fourteenth of February is Saint Valentine’s Day, when lovers send each other cards and gifts known as valentines. Although the name of Valentine is now synonymous with lovers, there is no certain connection between the celebration of romantic love and historical figure of Saint Valentine, a… Read More

Lucy Mangan’s back with your latest word submissions, from ‘cagophilist’ to ‘epicoolsome’

Sometimes I feel very blessed to have this job, with the glimpses into the secret pockets of people’s souls that it affords me. Sifting through submissions can be revelatory on many levels. Take, for example, cagophilist meaning – though there seems to be no etymological basis for it –… Read More

‘Alternative facts’, ‘Executive Orders’, and ‘fantastic relationship’: January’s Words in the News

If 2016 was the year of post-truth, perhaps 2017 will be the year of alternative facts. That’s the term the Trump Administration has selected for statements that are, to use parliamentary language, economical with the truth. The phrase was coined by “Senior White House Aide” Kellyanne Conway (yes, that is… Read More

Etymology Corner – ‘Rugby’

The Six Nations begin tomorrow so we’ve decided to look at the etymology behind the word ‘rugby’. ‘Rugby’ is what is known in etymological parlance as a toponym: a word that is derived from a place-name. In this case the word comes from the town of Rugby… Read More

Paul Noble’s Five Top Tips for Learning a Language

Number One – Study (at least a little) every day Learning a language is like building a fire – if you don’t tend to it, it will go out! So, once you have decided to learn a foreign language, you really should study it every day. It doesn’t have to… Read More