The word 'serendipity' was coined in 1754 by Horace Walpole — from an old name for Sri Lanka.

Creole languages form when children of pidgin speakers create a fully structured native language.

The word 'dollar' derives from the Bohemian Joachimsthal, where silver coins called 'Joachimsthaler' (thalers) were minted.

The English word 'lord' derives from Old English 'hlafweard' — bread-guardian.

Inuit languages do not have unusually many words for snow — this is a persistent linguistic myth.

Some languages have no word for 'left' and 'right' — speakers always use cardinal directions (north, south, east, west).

The word 'assassin' derives from the Arabic 'hashishin' — a medieval Islamic sect's name.

The longest word in English, pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, was invented to be the longest word.

The dot over a lowercase 'i' and 'j' is called a tittle.