kinetic 21 August 2026 Kinetic is an adjective that relates to motion; it’s a mid nineteenth-century borrowing from the Greek κῑνητικός (kinetikos). The noun kinetics, referring to the study of bodies in motion and the forces acting upon them, was formed from the adjective at about the same time.
great white hope 19 August 2026 In current parlance, a great white hope, sometimes simply white hope, refers to someone in a particular field in whom others place expectations and desires for success. Originally it referred to a white person who might have success in a field dominated by people of color, and
uncanny valley 17 August 2026 The phrase uncanny valley is a calque of the Japanese phrase bukimi no tani (bukimi (uncanniness + no (possessive particle) + tani (valley)). The Japanese phrase was coined by Masahiro Mori in a 1970 article in which he observed people’s emotional affinity toward robots rising as they appeared
Anglo-Saxon 14 August 2026 Anglo-Saxon is a problematic term. Historically, it is a misnomer, and in modern use it is strongly associated with ethnic, and often white supremacist, identity. As such, it should probably be avoided in favor of terms like English, Early English, pre-Conquest, and, for the language
gala 12 August 2026 English use of gala is an eighteenth-century borrowing from French, and word originally comes from the Middle and Old French gale, meaning festivity, rejoicing. But the sources disagree about the early path the word took. In a very old entry, the Oxford English Dictionary and more
throw one's hat into the ring 10 August 2026 To throw one’s hat into the ring is to enter into a fray or contest, and in particular to announce one’s candidacy for an office. The metaphor has a very literal origin in early nineteenth-century boxing, when challengers would toss their hat into the
Temu 7 August 2026 Temu is a rather new adjective meaning second rate, of poor quality, and it is often applied in a political context, critiquing the powers that be. It comes from the name of the online retailer. Temu launched September 2022 offering low-priced, and often low-quality, goods
centaur / reverse centaur (free copy) [Words in the News is a weekly, paid feature of Wordorigins.org. If you’d like to receive it in your mailbox each Thursday, please upgrade to a paid subscription at $5/month or $50/year. The funds keep the site up and running. (I have no illusions about being
penguin 5 August 2026 Penguins comprise a number of species of flightless sea birds of the family Spheniscidae, which, with one exception, inhabit the southern hemisphere. The exception is the Galapagos penguin, which dwells just north of the equator. The name penguin seems to have been first applied to the great
influence / influencer 3 August 2026 Social media has given rise to the influencer, a person who uses their celebrity on social media to endorse and promote products and messages. But the word influencer, and it’s root influence, long predate the advent of the internet. The English noun influence is borrowed from
manosphere 31 July 2026 The manosphere is a loose network of social media accounts, blogs, websites, etc. that evince antifeminist and misogynistic views. The term dates to 2011 and starts appearing in mainstream media publications two years later. The word is modeled on blogosphere, which, according to the Oxford English Dictionary,
