10 Interesting Facts About English Language
Did you know that “enneacontakaienneagon” is actually a word in the English language?
Can you pronounce the word – “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”?
Did you know “cute aggression” is a term?
Indisputably, English is weird but fascinating too!
Rules of thumb aren’t really rules of thumb, words change meaning over time, and words that are spelled similarly don’t always rhyme. Don’t you agree?
You may love it or hate it, but you cannot ignore it! So, why not learn a few interesting facts about this irresistible language?
In this blog, we will be sharing a few alluring facts about the fun–learning, but not so simple English language!
With Bells on, Read along!1. Bizarre words
The English language is a houseful of outlandish words. Do you know the ones below?
Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis – The longest word in any of the major English language dictionaries is ‘pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis’, a word that refers to lung disease.
Ah! Try pronouncing it.
Aegilops – The longest word in English with its letters in alphabetical order is ‘Aegilops’, which is a type of plant.
Subdermatoglyphic – The longest English word that can be written without repeating any letters is ‘subdermatoglyphic’, it’s the medical name for the outer layer of skin beneath the fingertips.
2. Contranyms
Words that can have contradictory meanings depending on the context are called
Contranyms.
Example: Bill – a payment or an invoice for payment
Custom – a common practice or a special treatment
Left – remained or departed
3. Portmanteau Words
Also known as a blend, it is a word formed by joining together parts of existing words.
Example: breakfast + lunch = brunchmotorcar + hotel = motel
guest + estimate = guestimate
Many new words enter the English language in this way. Blends are not the same as compounds or compound nouns, which form when two whole words join together.
Example – blackboard, darkroom, website4. Acronym
The word that is created from the first letter of each word in a series of words and pronounced as the full word is called an acronym. The acronym meaning in Hindi is संक्षिप्ति.
Example: NASA full form is National Aeronautics and Space Administration
AIDS full form is Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
An initialism is a type of acronym that cannot be pronounced as a word. These should be read letter-by-letter.
Example: USA – United States of AmericaBBC – British Broadcasting Corporation
DVD – Digital Versatile Disk
ATM – Automated Teller Machine
5. Clipping Words
The word-formation process which consists of the reduction of a word to one of its parts is called clipping. Clipping is also known as ‘truncation’ or ‘shortening’.
Example: Examination – ExamMemorandum – Memo
Photograph – photo
Bicycle – bike
Facsimile – Fax
Influenza – Flu
Refrigerator – Fridge
6. Jargon
A special word or phrase that is used by a group of people, especially in their work is known as jargon.
Example: due diligence – putting e ort into research before making a bu business decisiondrill down – to look at a problem in detail.
Best practice – the best way to do something.
7. Ghost Words
Believe it or not there are some words that appeared in the dictionary because of printing errors. They are called Ghost words. The non-existent word “dord” appeared in the dictionary for eight years in the mid-20th century. It became known as a ghost word.
8. Crutch words
Words that are always used even though they add no meaning or value to a sentence are called crutch words. People use them when they want some time to think about their response. These are the filler words like ‘um’, ‘ah’, like, actually, etc.
Umm…. That’s pretty interesting! ’9. Pangram
A sentence or expression that contains all 26 letters in the English alphabet is called a pangram. The most common pangram in English is:
Example: A quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dogPack my box with five dozen liquor jugs
Farmer jack realized that big yellow quilts were expensive
10. Palindrome
A palindrome is a word, phrase, or sentence that is the same when read forward or backward. The longest single-word palindrome in English is the word ‘tattarrattat’ coined by James Joyce in Ulysses (1922) for a knock on the door. And, no, this word didn’t result from a cat walking across a typewriter keyboard. At least, we don’t think so!
Example: level, civic, refer, madam, etc.
“The English language is nobody’s special property. It is the property of the imagination: it is the property of the language itself.” – Derek Walcott
The English language is full of imagination and the above facts are an example of the same. Are you fascinated by the language? Look at our English coaching plans at Learn from Native. You must be thinking ‘Is the English Language Important?’ Well, the fact is, English is the offcial language of over 67 countries, and this makes it the global language. Your search for language learning will surely end here, as the importance of the English language cannot be ignored. Moreover, we are the only platform in India to offer you with a unique opportunity to Learn English with the Native Tutors from English Speaking Countries. To explore advantages of learning English from a Native Tutor, read our blog ‘7advantages of Learning English from a Native Tutor’
I hope this blog taught you some fun facts about English. Hey! Still, wondering what is the meaning of ‘enneacontakaienneagon’? It means Shape with 99 sides. Truly unthinkable!