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- Dandelion - dent de lion (French for lion's tooth) because of toothy leaves
- Monkey-puzzle tree - In a British garden in 1850, a man remarks "It would puzzle a monkey to climb that."
- Narwhal - from Norwegian narhval. Na= corpse & hvalr= whale because of their dead body hue.
- Jazz - from Creole patois jass meaning strenuous activity/sex. Further back from jasm meaning energy and drive, African origin (also the source of jism.)
- Hoax - Derived from hocus-pocus
- Avocado - from Nahuatl ahuakatl for testicle because of its shape
- Nerd - alteration of 40's slang nert & popularized by Dr. Seuss
- Assassin - comes from "hashish-eater"
- Grenade - from pomegranate
- Calliope - originates from the name of Calliope, Greek for "beautiful voiced"
- Dinosaur - "terrible lizard"
- Quack - From Dutch word quacksalver meaning "boaster who applies a salve"
- Ciao - Italian and literally, (I am your) slave, from Medieval Latin sclavus.
- Eccentric - from Greek ekkentros, astronomical term meaning "a circle in which the earth, sun. etc. deviates from its center" before describing the unconventional
- Hysterical - from Greek hysterikos "of the womb, suffering in the womb". Originally a neurotic condition peculiar to women and thought to be from a dysfunctioning uterus.
- Ukulele - "little flea" A little musician popularized the instrument with the royal family and his nickname stuck.
- Morphine - from Morpheus, the Greek god of dreams
- Jumbo - From a huge elephant exhibited by P. T. Barnum. I thought that the elephant was named for its size, not the other way around.
- Pinata - Spanish from Italian pignatta "pinecone"
- Mellifluous - I love that a voice can be described as "honey flow". (Latin)
jul 24 2010 ∞
aug 16 2012 +
aug 16 2012 +