Language & Words
Where Does the Word Robot Come From?
Robot first appeared in Karel Čapek's 1920 play R.U.R. His brother Josef suggested it, from the Czech robota, forced labour. See how it reached English.
Language & Words
Where words, phrases, alphabets and names come from, and how languages work and change, traced through dictionaries and historical records.
Language & Words
Where Did the Alphabet Come From?
The alphabet began in the second millennium BC, when Semitic speakers adapted Egyptian hieroglyphs. Follow it via the Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans to English.
Language & Words
Where Does the Word OK Come From?
OK began in 1839 as a joke abbreviation of "oll korrect" in a Boston newspaper. See how the 1840 election spread it and how rival theories compare.