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  2. Origin story - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_story

    In fiction, an origin story is an account or backstory revealing how a character or group of people become a protagonist or antagonist. In American comic books , it also refers to how characters gained their superpowers and/or the circumstances under which they became superheroes or supervillains .

  3. List of common false etymologies of English words - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_false...

    The word's true origin is unknown, but it existed in the Middle Scots period. [32] [33] News: The word news has been claimed to be an acronym of the four cardinal directions (north, east, west, and south). However, old spellings of the word varied widely (e.g., newesse, newis, nevis, neus, newys, niewes, newis, nues, etc.).

  4. Thesaurus - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thesaurus

    A thesaurus (pl.: thesauri or thesauruses), sometimes called a synonym dictionary or dictionary of synonyms, is a reference work which arranges words by their meanings (or in simpler terms, a book where one can find different words with similar meanings to other words), [1] [2] sometimes as a hierarchy of broader and narrower terms, sometimes simply as lists of synonyms and antonyms.

  5. Etymology - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology

    The origin of any particular word is also known as its etymology. For languages with a long written history , etymologists make use of texts, particularly texts about the language itself, to gather knowledge about how words were used during earlier periods, how they developed in meaning and form , or when and how they entered the language.

  6. Lich - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lich

    Lich is an archaic English word for "corpse"; the gate at the lowest end of the cemetery where the coffin and funerary procession usually entered was commonly referred to as the lich gate. This gate was quite often covered by a small roof where part of the funerary service could be carried out. [3]

  7. OK - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OK

    This origin was first described by linguist Allen Walker Read in the 1960s. As an adjective , OK principally means "adequate" or "acceptable" as a contrast to "bad" ("The boss approved this, so it is OK to send out"); it can also mean "mediocre" when used in contrast with "good" ("The french fries were great, but the burger was just OK").

  8. Online Etymology Dictionary - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Etymology_Dictionary

    The Online Etymology Dictionary has been referenced by Oxford University's "Arts and Humanities Community Resource" catalog as "an excellent tool for those seeking the origins of words" [6] and cited in the Chicago Tribune as one of the "best resources for finding just the right word". [7]

  9. Prequel - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prequel

    Though the word "prequel" is of recent origin, works fitting this concept existed long before. The Cypria, presupposing hearers' acquaintance with the events of the Homeric epic, confined itself to what preceded the Iliad, and thus formed a kind of introduction.