Main Rounds > Word Quizzes and Trivia

Word Quizzes and Etymology Trivia

Etymology is the study of the history of words.

More Word Trivia

Questions

  1. The word 'wig' is actually a shortened version of which word?
  2. Honorificabilitudinitatibus, the longest word in the English language featuring only alternating consonants and vowels, features in which William Shakespeare play?
  3. Which word, the longest to use all five vowels in order exactly once, means one who doesn’t indulge in excesses?



  4. Give the name often used as a popular term for someone with a very optimistic outlook which originates from the title of a 1913 novel by Eleanor H. Porter?
  5. Which Latin phrase, usually translated to 'seize the day', is taken from Odes by the Roman poet Horace?
  6. 'Tattarrattat' is a knock on the door, it's also the longest palindrome in the Oxford English Dictionary; which author coined this word in 1922? And can you name the book it was first used in?
  7. How many two-letter scrabble words exist starting with the letter 'z'?
  8. Staring with the letter 'b' what word is the Persian equivalent of a 'souk' found in Western Asian and North African cities?
  9. What is an 'eccedentesiast' faking?
  10. What is 'paraskevidekatriaphobia' the fear of?
  11. Which German word is used in the English language to mean art in pretentious bad taste?
  12. What is vexillology the study of?
  13. What is the meaning of the noun 'ennui'?
  14. By what name was the WWII Junkers Ju 87 German dive bomber and ground-attack aircraft better known?
  15. What word can be a form of raffle with prizes are pre-assigned to winning tickets and the name of a bingo website?
  16. What word was first coined by the French peace campaigner Emile Arnaud and used by other peace activists since 1901?
  17. How many points does the word 'words' add up to in scrabble?


  18. word quiz scrabble image
    Question 17 - a 'words' quiz question on scrabble


  19. Which everyday household object is called an 'assiette' in French?
  20. Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (or Llanfair PG) is in which part of Wales: (a) Pembrokeshire, (b) Anglesey, (c) Powys, or (d) Clwyd?
  21. The following people collect what specific items: (a) arctophile, (b) tegestologist, (c) phillumenist, and (d) oologist?


Answers:

  1. Periwig
  2. Love Labour's Lost
  3. Abstentious
  4. Pollyanna
  5. Carpe Diem
  6. James Joyce; the book is Ulysses.
  7. One - 'za' (which means 'pizza')
  8. Bazaar (an open-air marketplace)
  9. It's putting on a fake smile
  10. Friday the 13th



  11. Kitsch
  12. Flags
  13. Boredom or tedium
  14. Stuka
  15. Tombolo
  16. Pacifism
  17. Nine points (4,1,1,2,1)
  18. A plate
  19. Anglesey
  20. (a) Teddy bears, (b) beer mats, (c) matchboxes, and (d) birds' eggs