Durban

Republish for FreeRepublish This StoryRepublish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. The word ache is a good example of the way that English spelling and pronunciation have developedand in many case have diverged from eacj other.This noun comes from Old English and used to be pronounced ‘aitch’ (like the letter H), whereas the verb was … [Read more...] about ache

Republish for FreeRepublish This StoryRepublish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. The word acid originally meant ‘sour-tasting’, and came from Latin acidus. The term seems to have been introduced by the 17th-century scientist Francis Bacon, who in 1626, for example, described sorrel as a ‘cold and acid herb’. The chemical sense came … [Read more...] about acid

Republish for FreeRepublish This StoryRepublish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. An ace was originally the side of a dice marked with one spot. The word comes from Latin as, meaning ‘unit’. Since an ace is the card with the highest value in many card games, the word often suggests a sense of excellence.An ace was also a wartime … [Read more...] about ace

Republish for FreeRepublish This StoryRepublish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. An accident was originally simply ‘an event or mishap’.It came into English in the Middle Ages via Old French from Latin, ultimately derivind from the Latin caders, meaning ‘to fall’, which also gave us words such as cadaver, chance, decay, incident and … [Read more...] about accident