Robots, quarantines and muscles (which are literally 'little mice'): the stories hidden in everyday words.
The word 'robot' was introduced by Czech writer Karel Čapek in his play R.U.R.
“The word robot was introduced to the public by the Czech interwar writer Karel Čapek in his play R.U.R.”
Source: Robot, Wikipedia. Checked 2026-10-31.
'Quarantine' comes from a Venetian word meaning 'forty days'.
“The word quarantine comes from quarantena or quarantaine, meaning "forty days", used in the Venetian language in the 14th and 15th centuries and also in France.”
Source: Quarantine, Wikipedia. Checked 2026-10-31.
'Muscle' comes from the Latin for 'little mouse'.
“The word muscle comes from Latin musculus, diminutive of mus meaning mouse, because the appearance of the flexed biceps resembles the back of a mouse.”
Source: Muscle, Wikipedia. Checked 2026-10-31.
'Avocado' comes, via Spanish, from the Nahuatl word āhuacatl.
“The word avocado comes from the Spanish aguacate, which derives from the Nahuatl (Mexican) word āhuacatl”
Source: Avocado, Wikipedia. Checked 2026-10-31.
'Ketchup' may come from a Hokkien Chinese word.
“Another theory is that the word derives from one of two words from Hokkien of the Fujian region of coastal southern China”
Source: Ketchup, Wikipedia. Checked 2026-10-31.
'Malaria' means 'bad air' in medieval Italian.
“The word malaria originates from Medieval Italian: mala aria, 'bad air', a part of miasma theory”
Source: Malaria, Wikipedia. Checked 2026-10-31.
The sandwich is named after John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich.
“The sandwich is named after the inventor of a certain roast-beef sandwich in 18th-century England, John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich.”
Source: Sandwich, Wikipedia. Checked 2026-10-31.
'Tycoon' comes from a Japanese title meaning 'great lord'.
“The term tycoon derives from the Japanese word taikun (大君), which means "great lord", used as a title for the shōgun.”
Source: Tycoon, Wikipedia. Checked 2026-10-31.
'Shampoo' comes from a Hindi word and dates to 1762.
“It dates to 1762 and derives from the Hindi word”
Source: Shampoo, Wikipedia. Checked 2026-10-31.
'OK' most likely began as a jokey misspelling: 'oll korrect'.
“most modern reference works hold that it originated around Boston as part of a fad in the late 1830s of abbreviating misspellings – that it is an initialism of "oll korrect" as a misspelling of "all correct".”
Source: OK, Wikipedia. Checked 2026-10-31.
We say 'jumbo' for 'huge' because of a famous elephant named Jumbo.
“The elephant's name spawned the common word " jumbo ", meaning large in size.”
Source: Jumbo, Wikipedia. Checked 2026-10-31.