TouchéGet the appLanguage & Words trivia questions
Ten questions to try. Pick an answer to see why.
01What does "a piece of cake" mean?Try itHide
Answer: Very easy
WhyThe phrase has been around since 1936 and began in American English. It may come from the cakewalk, a contest where the prize was a cake. If a task is a piece of cake, you can do it without effort.
02Which word completes "don't count your chickens before they ___"?Try itHide
Answer: hatch
WhyA version of this advice appears in print in 1570, in a poem by Thomas Howell. It warns you not to plan around something that hasn't happened yet. The eggs may never hatch.
03Monday is named after which celestial body?Try itHide
Answer: The Moon
WhyMonday comes from Old English for day of the moon. That itself was a translation of the Latin name, dies Lunae. Sunday is the Sun's day in the same way.
04March is named after which Roman god?Try itHide
Answer: Mars
WhyBritain and its colonies started the new year on March 25 until 1752. March had come first since the earliest Roman calendar, when the month of Mars, god of war, opened the season for fighting.
05Sideburns are named after which Civil War general?Try itHide
Answer: Burnside
WhyUnion general Ambrose Burnside wore thick side whiskers joined by a mustache, with a clean-shaven chin. The style was called burnsides after him. In the 19th century the word got flipped around to sideburns.
06What does "bite off more than you can chew" mean?Try itHide
Answer: Take on too much
WhyThe picture is of someone stuffing their mouth so full that they can't chew. The phrase means trying to do more than you can handle. A person who overcommits is said to have done it.
07"Malaria" comes from Italian words meaning what?Try itHide
Answer: Bad air
WhyMalaria is Italian for bad air, since people once blamed the fever on foul air near swamps. English speakers used to call it ague or marsh fever. Mosquitoes were shown to spread it much later.
08Which language directly gave English the word "safari"?Try itHide
Answer: Swahili
WhyIn Swahili, a safari is any journey, even a bus ride from Nairobi to Mombasa. The word comes from Arabic safar, travel, and explorer Richard Francis Burton brought it into English at the end of the 1850s.
09The Arabic word behind "sofa" first named what?Try itHide
Answer: A cushioned stone bench
WhySofa comes from Arabic suffa, a long seat of stone or brick covered with carpets and cushions. The word reached English through French. It may have traveled through Muslim Iberia or through Turkish.
10"Muscle" comes from a Latin word meaning what?Try itHide
Answer: Little mouse
WhyA flexed biceps looks like the back of a mouse, so Latin called a muscle musculus, little mouse. Greek made the same leap: its word mȳs means both mouse and muscle. Mussel comes from the same Latin word.
That was 10 of 200.
The rest are in the app, each with the story behind the answer.