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,
mog / mogging 29 July 2026 Mog and mogging have a variety of meanings, but here I’m focusing on one that is etymologically unrelated to any of the others. To mog someone is to exert dominance over them, especially by being more physically and sexually attractive. To cuckold a man is to
looksmaxxing / -maxxing 27 July 2026 Looksmaxxing is the practice of using aggressive, and sometimes dangerous, methods to improve one’s physical appearance. Methods range from improved grooming habits to extreme cosmetic surgery procedures. The term grew out of the incel community, which tends to believe that appearance is the only, or at
Mrs. Grundy 24 July 2026 Mrs. Grundy is a proverbial character, a scold and purveyor of society’s moral sentiments. She has her origin in Thomas Morton’s play Speed the Plough, penned in 1798 and first performed in 1800. While largely forgotten today, the play was enormously popular in its day.
botulism / botox 22 July 2026 Botulinum toxin is a neurotoxic protein produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. It is generally considered the deadliest poison known to humanity, and in years past had been developed as a biological weapon by the United States, the Soviet Union, and Iraq. Despite its toxicity, it has
blog 20 July 2026 A blog, as most of you probably know, is a website where a writer posts commentary, reflections, and personal anecdotes. It can also be a portion of a commercial website that provides product updates and commentary. And, as most of you also probably know, blog is a
scrub / shrub 17 July 2026 The nouns scrub and shrub are essentially variants on the same word. They both come from the Old English scrybb, meaning bushes or brush. The /ʃ/ or /sh/ pronunciation developed in Middle English. In addition to literal meaning of low or stunted plant growth, scrub has been
