Quarantine is on all our minds lately. But the word goes all the way back to the time of the Black Death.

‘Cobalt’ takes its name from a pesky goblin—and mischief is baked into its name.

The origin of the word ‘dinosaur,’ and the story of its self-sabotaging inventor.

The origin of the word ‘vaccine’ stretches back to a disease, a test subject, and… a cow.

The word ‘meme’ has more to do with evolutionary biology than the internet.