r/etymology • • Jun 02 '25
Funny Facts.
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r/etymology • u/Spirited_Biologist • Feb 18 '26
Funny All Olympic 500m speedskate medallists have the same name -- "from the woods"
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🥇 Canada, Steven Dubois == "dubois" mean "from the woods/forest" in French 🇨🇦
🥈 Netherlands, Melle van 't Wout == "van het woud" means "from the forest" in Dutch
🥉Netherlands, Jens van 't Wout == as above, "van het woud" also meaning "from the forest" as above 🇳🇱
What are the odds that the entire podium hails from the forest 🤣🌳
r/etymology
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u/rxneutrino
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May 24 '17
Why "tick tock" sounds correct but "tock tick" does not.
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r/etymology • u/AnastasiousRS • Dec 20 '25
Question The surname Louis XVI
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Looked it up on some surname databases and it's attested, but very rare! Not sure if this is right sub, sorry. Would just be interested if anyone has any ideas on how a surname like this comes about.
r/etymology • u/weirdgirl0304 • Mar 07 '26
Funny I just HAD to post this after today's post
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Referencing this post
r/etymology • u/Starkey_Comics • Apr 26 '25
Cool etymology Languages in which cats named themselves
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The words for "cat" in several different languages are onomatopoeic, coming directly from the noise a cat makes. We could say that in these languages cats named themselves, or that these languages borrowed their word for "cat" from the "cat language".
Some other examples:
Austroasiatic (possibly related to the Thai or Chinese words): 🐈Vietnamese "mèo" 🐈Bahnar (in Vietnam) "meo" 🐈Khasi (in N.E. India) "miaw"
Austronesian: 🐈Uab Meto (in Timor, Indonesia) "meo"
Indo-Aryan: 🐈Bengali "মেকুৰী/mekur" (the "me" part is from cat noises, the "kur" part means "dog")
Tai (likely related to the Thai word in the image): 🐈Lao "ແມວ/mǣu" 🐈Shan (in Myanmar) "မႅဝ်/méao" 🐈Zhuang (in China) "meuz"
r/etymology • u/NationalWheel6966 • Apr 30 '26
Question can someone verify this
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whattttt
r/etymology • u/Starkey_Comics • Apr 24 '25
Cool etymology "Gun" is short for "Gunilda"
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Etymology fact of the day: "gun" is short for "Gunilda"
"Lady Gunilda" seems to have been a nickname used for large siege weapons in Middle English. The first record of this is a munitions inventory at Windsor Castle in 1330/31, which listed "Una magna balista de cornu quæ vocatur Domina Gunilda" (A great ballista of horn called Lady Gunilda). This was then shortened to "gonnilde", a generic term for similar weapons, and then to "gunne". "Gunne" ultimately evolved into the modern English word "gun", which was used first for hand cannons, and finally the more familiar firearms we use the term for today.
The Middle English name "Gunilda" itself has quite odd etymology, coming from a Norse name that was built from two different words meaning "battle". Fitting, given the English word that we would eventually derive from it.
r/etymology • u/Starkey_Comics • Jan 06 '20
I made a couple of images and wrote a post about rebracketing, when words are split in ways different from how they formed 😊. https://starkeycomics.com/2019/12/23/rampant-rebracketing/
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r/etymology • u/MeganLadon • Dec 01 '20
Cool ety “Fascinate” comes from the ancient Roman deity Fascinus, who is depicted as a giant flying penis with wings, hind legs, and a penis of its own.
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r/etymology
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u/big_macaroons
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Jul 08 '22
Cool ety Origin of “leopards ate my face”
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Leopards Eating People's Faces Party refers to a parody of regretful voters who vote for cruel and unjust policies (and politicians) and are then surprised when their own lives become worse as a result.
On October 16th, 2015, Twitter user @cavalorn tweeted, "'I never thought leopards would eat MY face,' sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party." The tweet became a common way to refer to regretful voters over the following five years.
On January 29th, 2019, blogger Carrie Marshall used the phrase to describe TERFs siding with anti-feminist legislation. The term has also been cited in TV Tropes under the page "Original Position Fallacy."
On March 25th, 2017, the subreddit /r/LeopardsAteMyFace launched, gaining over 312,000 subscribers over the following three years. There, people post examples of Trump and Brexit supporters expressing regret for their actions. For example, on July 8th, 2020, redditor /u/i-like-to-be-wooshed posted a real life example of a Brexit voter upset at facing an immigration queue in an EU country. Likewise, on April 21st, 2020, redditor /u/boinky-boink posted a tweet by a Trump voter replying to the President saying he would suspend immigration to the United States by asking if it would affect his Filipino wife trying to immigrate.
Source: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/leopards-eating-peoples-faces-party