Dictionary Of Word Origins

By Linda Flavell, R.H. Flavell, Roger H. Flavell, et al.

Book Overview

A guide to the origins and histories of over 300 commonly used words. With entries from accolade to zoo, and mini-essays throughout on general topics, this will appeal to anyone interested in words... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1856265641
• ISBN13: 9781856265645
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Kyle Cathie Ltd
• Length: 277 Pages
• Weight: 0.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.5" x 1.0" x 5.0"

Customer Reviews

Chosen words with a story to tell.

I have both the original version with 277 pages and the new addition with 320 pages; so evidently, something has been added. As the book implies, it discusses the origins of words. Often, the origins of words also give them deeper meaning. The origin of words may explain why they’re sometimes spelled so strangely. All words cannot fit into a single book efficiently, so Linda and Roger Flavell show us words that have a story to tell. At first, it seems like an odd selection of things that you should not call people or words that you would know that you don’t usually use. Soon you will have fun going from A to Z and have fun using these words on people with a minuscule vocabulary. As in a dictionary, what’s called the headwords are the main words in alphabetical order. Other words appear where they are most useful. These other words appear where they are needed most and can be looked up in the index. The front of the book has a small history of words and where they might have come from, and hence, the best way to use this book.