Language Trivia

Free language trivia questions and answers.

Fun trivia questions and answers - Language.

What is poliosis?
A: The graying of the hair. It comes from polios, the Greek word for "gray" The disease poliomyelitis was so named because it involves the inflammation of the gray matter of the spinal cord.

What words were combined and shortened to form the radio code response "wilco"?
A: Will comply.

What's the difference between a nook and a cranny?
A: A nook is a corner; a cranny is a crack.

In business jargon, what does the term glocal mean?
A: A combination of the words global and local, it means taking a global view of the market and adjusting it to local needs, or making global products fit the local market.

What part of an airplane is the empennage?
A: The complete tail assembly. Empennage is a French word meaning "the feathers at the end of an arrow" which the tail unit resembles.

What is a bicorn?
A: The crescent-shaped hat worn by Napoleon. The three-cornered hat worn by early American colonists is known as a tricorn.

In what profession is the scruple used as a measure?
A: Pharmacy--the scruple is an apothecary weight equal to 20 grains, or 1/24 ounce.

What is the chief symptom of someone suffering from oniomania?
A: An uncontrollable desire to buy things.

How did the duffle bag get its name.
A: From the Belgian town of Duffel, where the coarse, thick napped woolen fabric used for the bags was manufactured.

What does the word climax mean in Greek?
A: "Ladder." In Greece it is spelled klimax.

In the field of accounting, what does the abbreviation "dr." signify?
A: Debtor.

What is your problem if you have trichottilomania?
A: You have an overwhelming urge to tear your hair out.

Dublin theater manager James Daly was credited with inventing and introducing what word into the English language during the late eighteenth century by scrawling it in bathrooms and other public places?
A: Quiz: Daly reportedly bet a friend he could introduce a new word into the language within 24 hours--and won.

What sort of words does a sesquipedalian speaker use?
A: Long ones--like sesquipedalian.

What is the more common name we use for the physical affliction known as furfur?
A: Dandruff.

What is your problem if you have sitomania?
A: An abnormal craving for food.

What does the acronym NOEL mean to those who test food additives on animals?
A: No observed effect level. It means that no adverse effects were seen.

In England, what is the hobby of people known as "twitchers"?
A: Bird-watching. In the United States, they'd be called birders.

What are you afraid of if you have siderodromophobia?
A: Trains.

What is a zeedonk?
A: The offspring of a zebra and a donkey.

What is measured in nits?
A: Luminance. A nit is a unit of brightness equal to one candela per square meter.

What did the term skyscraper originally mean--before it was used to describe a tall building?
A: It was the name of the small triangular sail set above the royals on square-riggers to catch wind in calm weather. It was later used to describe tall men and horses, and eventually buildings.

What's an ananym?
A: A name spelled backwards that is sometimes used as a pseudonyum. Oprah Winfrey uses an anaym of her first name for her production company --Harpo.

called thunderday.