This week's theme
Words having origins in Iraq

This week's words
baldachin
tabby
babylon
muslin
babel


This week's comments
AWADmail 493

Next week's theme
Words borrowed from Yiddish

---

Discuss
Feedback
RSS/XML

---

A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(BAB-uhl, BAY-buhl)

MEANING:

noun:
1. A confused mixture of noises or voices.
2. A scene of noise or confusion.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Hebrew Babhel (Babylon). In the Old Testament (Genesis 11:4-9), people united in an attempt to build a city with a tower that reached the heavens. This displeased god who halted the project by confounding people's speech so they wouldn't understand one another. Earliest documented use: before 1382.

USAGE:

"While an excited babel of Spanish, German, Japanese, and Hindi emanated from the dozens of television news crews in the street, the response to Charles and Camilla's I dos among locals was mostly We Don't."
Glenda Cooper; In Windsor, a Royal Pain; The Washington Post; Apr 10, 2005.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: