Etymoleon - Word History, the etymology podcast.
Word History is a podcast for people who enjoy words and history.
Each episode takes a small set of words linked to a theme. You'll hear what they mean, where they come from and which familiar words share the same linguistic roots, along with stories from the past related to their use.
Listen for words that sharpen expression, and brief histories that show how ideas and practices, as well as language, took shape. Across an archive of more than a hundred episodes, you'll find explanations of word, name and phrase origins.
The majority of etymologies featured return to Old English, Ancient Greek, Latin and Old French, providing a look into languages of the past that underpin English.
New episodes on Sundays.
Play the daily word game Derivety: https://derivety.com
Get in touch: https://etymoleon.com
Episodes
118 episodes
118. Work | History Daily: Henry Ford's Five-Day Week
This podcast returns on May 10th 2026. A musician discovered Uranus, a Hollywood actress developed military technology, and a statesman invented bifocal glasses. Names such as Spencer, Marshall and Stewart trace their origins back to occupation...
117. Murder
To burke is to kill by strangulation, a word taken from the name of a 19th century murderer. In Anglo-Saxon England, a killing could be settled with payment through the wergild, a sum paid by the offender to the victim's family. In France, a pe...
116. Bizarre
This episode investigates obscure words for conversations about bizarre histories, considering their origins and familiar words from the same root. Words explored include diluvial, nundination, expetible, tripudiate, mucilaginous, delitescent a...
115. Chance
This podcast returns on April 12th 2026. This episode explores unusual words for conversations about chance, examining their origins and recognisable words from the same root. Words covered include incertitude, vicissitude, pari-mutuel, fortuit...
114. Fixity
This episode examines uncommon words for conversations about fixity, exploring their origins and familiar words from the same root. Words featured include intransigent, obdurate, adamantine, indelible, obstinate and irrevocable. He...
113. Reputation
This episode explores lesser known words that are useful in conversations about reputation, considering their origins and recognisable words from the same root. Words highlighted include perfidious, calumny, susurration, ignominy, opprobrium, o...
112. Error
This episode investigates obscure words for discussions about error, tracing their origins and familiar words from the same root. Words examined include solecism, lapsus calami, amphibology, defalcation, misfeasance and mea culpa. ...
111. Happiness
This episode considers unusual words for conversations about happiness, examining their origins and recognisable words from the same root. Words featured include gaiety, delectation, sangfroid, equanimity, ananda and rapturous.
110. Eating
This episode gets into unusual words for conversations about eating, exploring their origins and familiar words from the same root. Words discussed include voracious, pantagruelian, temulent, alimentation, deglutition and abstemious. <...
109. Precision
This podcast returns on February 22nd 2026. This episode examines lesser-known words for discussions about Precision, looking at their origins and familiar words from the same root. Words explored include punctilious, ad litteram, cavilling, fa...
108. Power
This episode explores uncommon words for discussions about Power, examining their origins and familiar words from the same root. Words highlighted include recrudescence, lese-majeste, contumacious, de facto, seditious and arrogate.Hear ...
107. Time
This episode covers rare words for conversations about Time, exploring their origins and recognisable words from the same root. Words featured include desultory, ephemeral, dilatory, tarry, exigent and evitable.Listen for the history of...
106. Christmas Songs
This podcast returns late January 2026. This episode begins with why Christmas carols were banned in the 17th century, and how the word carol comes from a French term for a dance performed by singers. Words like ditty, jingle and number are all...
105. Etiquette
This time we're getting into terms of etiquette and the origins of certain expected behaviours, starting with the word etiquette itself, which shares a root with ticket because rules of behaviour were once written on small tabs. There are many ...
104. Scotland
This episode marks St Andrew's Day by looking at the origins of terms linked to Scottish dialects. It begins with the etymologies of Scotland and other historical names for the region, including Caledonia and Alba. The episode also examines the...
103. Names: Cross Cultural
This episode looks at names that work across cultures, names that sound alike but emerge from entirely different linguistic roots. It opens with demographic data from the USA and from England and Wales that helps explain why many parents now se...
102. Manifesting
This time we're looking at words connected to the art of manifesting, tracing the origins of terms like abundance, affirmation and visualise. To describe what we sense from a person but can't see, we turn to words such as vibe, aura and energy,...
101. Veganism
This podcast returns mid-November 2025.This time we're looking into the etymologies of vegan related terms, beginning with the history of the Vegan Society and the roots of other dietary labels such as pescetarian and the more recent red...
100. Anglosphere
This episode looks at the differences between varieties of English across the Anglosphere, examining the origins of words that vary from place to place. Learn where the words trousers and pants come from, why thongs might refer to footwear or u...
99. Lies
This time we're tracing the etymology of words tied to lies and deceit, beginning with research into how children learn, or fail, to tell untruths, and a look at words of honesty such as blunt and authentic, the latter etymologically meaning 's...
98. Names: Soap Characters
This episode looks at surname origins through the lens of television soap operas, beginning with why these dramas are called soaps and how the conglomerate P&G remains involved in producing them. Some familiar family names point back to pro...
97. Sugar
This episode traces the language of sugar and sweetness, from the Arabic roots of the word sugar to the names of modern artificial sweeteners. Discover how accidents in the lab led to the discovery of saccharin, sucralose and aspartame, and how...
96. Smells
This episode uncovers the surprising histories of fragrant words. Many, including perfume, incense and bakhoor, trace back to roots connected with smoke and fumes. Eau de toilette may seem like an odd name for something sprayed on the body, but...
95. Contradicting Meanings III
This episode looks at words that contradict themselves, carrying opposite meanings at once or shifting dramatically over time. Manufacturing suggests mass production today, yet it comes from Latin meaning 'made by hand'. A model can be an unfin...