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Articles on Etymology

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Study groups and quizzes can help, but one studying technique stands out above the rest. Hill Street Studios / Getty Images

What it takes to become a spelling bee champ

The road to becoming a champion speller is made easier with support from family and friends, but ultimately it depends on an individual student’s commitment to learning, a scholar writes.
In fact, it’s not even the moths eating your clothes. Flickr/Vlad Proklov

Curious Kids: How do moths eat our clothes?

If you see moths and their larvae near your clothes, it’s a sign that it’s time to wash all your clothes and air them out in the sun.
A photo of Stoney Squ-w Mountain in Banff by the Bow River. (Shutterstock)

The S-word: Just stop using it

The word Squ-w has an innocent origin, but its use in English has long been derogatory and racist. Place names which use this word should be changed.
Physicists Joe Hamilton, who discovered tennessine, and his colleague A. V. Ramayya autograph a period table on June 8, 2016. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Four new elements named – here’s how the periodic table evolved

Some 18 elements have had placeholder names derived from the Latin to stop scientists fighting over what their discoveries should be called.

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