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Etymology of the day: drastic
In the late 1600s, drastic originally referred to medicine that vigorously acted on the bowels. It comes from the Greek drastikos, “effective,” whose root verb dran, “to do or act,” also gives us the word drama. m ∫ r ∫ Read more.
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Etymology of the day: neighbor
Neighbor comes from the Old English neahgebur, meaning “near-dweller.” The first part, neah, means and gives us “nigh.” Its modern replacement, near, is the comparative form (faster < fast) of neah, and literally means “more nigh.” The second part, gebur, is “dweller.” m ∫ r ∫ Read more.
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Etymology of the day: avocado
Today is National Avocado Day. Why don’t you observe it with a little etymology? Via Spanish, avocado comes from the Nahuatl (Aztec) ahuacatl. It means “testicle.” (Try that on some toast.) The Nahuatl language also gives us the words tomato and chocolate, as I discuss in an old post. m ∫ r ∫ Read more.
Mashed Radish 