The first completely new major dictionary of Words origins for over twenty years. The average English speaker knows about 50,000 Words-almost twenty-five times more Words than there are stars visible in the night sky. This completely new dictionary uncovers the often surprising connections between Words. in over 8,000 entries the dictionary reveals the origins of and links between, for example, secret and crime, flour and pollen, imbecile and bacteria, plankton and complain. A Written in a clear and informative style, with detailed cross references, the dictionary shows how English today has developed from its Indo-European origins and how the different main influence on the language have intermingled.
