etymology
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day
Merriam-Webster
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🗓️ 20 October 2025
⏱️ 2 minutes
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Summary
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 20, 2025 is:
etymology • \eh-tuh-MAH-luh-jee\ • noun
An etymology is an explanation of a word’s history—that is, where the word came from and how it developed.
// As a word nerd, I’m always eager to learn a word’s etymology and trace it back to its earliest known origins.
Examples:
“A recent Vogue bride, Nicole Amarise, changed her name—as did her husband. ‘Together we opted to create a new one for our new life together,’ she says. ‘We gave ChatGPT information about the etymology of our old surnames, and guided it to generate surname options for us that could relate to our heritages and cultures.’” — Shelby Wax, Vogue, 16 Aug. 2025
Did you know?
The etymology of etymology itself is relatively straightforward, so we won’t bug you with a lengthy explanation. Etymology ultimately comes from the Greek word etymon, meaning “literal meaning of a word according to its origin.” Etymon in turn comes from etymos, which means “true.” Be careful not to confuse etymology with the similar sounding entomology. Entomon means “insect” in Greek, and entomology is a branch of zoology that deals with insects.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's the Word of the Day podcast for October 20th. |
| 0:12.0 | Today's word is etymology, spelled Ety-Y-M-O-L-O-G-Y. |
| 0:17.8 | Etymology is a noun. |
| 0:19.5 | It's an explanation of a word's history, that is, where the word |
| 0:23.0 | came from and how it developed. Here's the word used in a sentence from Vogue by Shelby Wax. |
| 0:29.1 | A recent Vogue bride, Nicole Amarise, changed her name, as did her husband. Together we opted to |
| 0:36.3 | create a new one for our new life together, she says. |
| 0:39.8 | We gave chat GPT information about the etymology of our old surnames and guided it to generate |
| 0:46.6 | surname options for us that could relate to our heritages and cultures. |
| 0:51.5 | The etymology of the word etymology itself is relatively straightforward, |
| 0:57.3 | so we won't bug you with a lengthy explanation. Etymology ultimately comes from the Greek word |
| 1:03.7 | etymon, meaning, literal meaning of a word according to its origin. Etymon, in turn, comes from etymos, |
| 1:12.2 | which means true. |
| 1:17.5 | Be careful not to confuse etymology with the similar-sounding entomology. |
| 1:24.3 | Entomon means insect, in Greek, and entomology is a branch of zoology that deals with insects. |
| 1:26.7 | With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski. |
| 1:36.9 | Visit Miriamwebster.com today for definitions, wordplay, and trending word lookups. |
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