20 Facts about English Language
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In this post, I am sharing with you 20 Facts about English Language, which will surprise you, when you get to know these facts. Let’s Start…
Here are some peculiar facts about English words:
1. “Set” has the most definitions of any word in the English language. It has over 430 different meanings listed in the Oxford English Dictionary.
2. The shortest sentence in English is “I am.” It has a subject, a verb, and a predicate.
3. The word “oxymoron” is an oxymoron in itself. It comes from the Greek words “oxy” (sharp) and “moron” (dull), which are contradictory.
4. “E” is the most commonly used letter in the English language, and “Q” is the least common letter.
5. “Queueing” is the only word in the English language with five consecutive vowels.
6. “Bookkeeper” and “bookkeeping” are the only words in the English language with three consecutive pairs of double letters.
7. “Rhythms” is the longest English word without any vowels.
8. “Ghoti” is a word that can be pronounced as “fish” using the sounds of other letters. The “gh” is pronounced as “f” as in “enough,” the “o” is pronounced as “i” as in “women,” and the “ti” is pronounced as “sh” as in “nation.”
9. “Strengths” is the longest word in the English language with only one vowel.
10. “Uncopyrightable” is the longest word in the English language without repeating any letters.
20 Facts about English Language
11. The word “quiz” was invented by a Dublin theater owner, Richard Daly, who made a bet that he could introduce a new word into the language within 24 hours. He hired people to write the word “quiz” on walls all over the city, and by the next day, everyone was talking about it.
12. The word “goodbye” comes from the phrase “God be with ye,” which was shortened over time to “goodbye.”
13. The word “girl” originally meant “a young person of either sex” and was used to refer to both boys and girls. It wasn’t until the 16th century that it became exclusively used for females.
14. The word “nerd” was first coined by Dr. Seuss in his book “If I Ran the Zoo” in 1950.
15. The word “OK” originated during the 19th century as a humorous abbreviation of “oll korrect,” a misspelling of “all correct.”
16. The word “pencil” comes from the Latin word “pencillus,” which means “little tail,” referring to the small ink brushes used in ancient Rome.
17. The longest word in the English language is “pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis,” which is a type of lung disease caused by inhaling fine silica dust.
18. The word “dude” was originally used in the 19th century to refer to a dandy, a man who was overly concerned with his appearance and manners.
19. The word “avocado” comes from the Aztec word “ahuacatl,” which means “testicle.”
20. The word “salary” comes from the Latin word “salarium,” which was the money paid to Roman soldiers for the purchase of salt.
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