– By Kritika Malik.

Wikipedia defines etymology as the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time. Have you ever thought why a potato is called a potato and not a tomato? Etymology is the answer to all these questions.

Like Amitabh Bachchan rightly said in Namak Halal, “English is a funny language.” It is indeed a twisted language but some words have simple stories behind them. Did you ever realise that the letter W gets it’s name from it’s shape? -DOUBLE-U. We use some words so often in our lives that we forget the essence of them.

They get inculcated in our brains so much so that we never ponder upon their origin, history and sometimes even their meanings. 

Here are a few words that we use in our day to lives that have interesting etymologies :

1. Now you know what a simple “goodbye” means : 

2. Men, kindly take note :

3. You own a smartphone but bet you never wondered THIS about it :

4. Just like your chances with the woman you gift it to :

5. For all the couch potatoes out there :

6. Which you probably do feel when you’re under the weather :

7. Good morning. Rise and shine :

So, there you have it! Think you got more words with etymology we don’t know about?

Let us know in the comments!

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The post Why Is A Potato Called A Potato? ED’s Poster Series About The Magic Of Etymology appeared first on ED | The Youth Blog.