Reels tagged #english
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Homophones
'Their', 'there' and 'they're' sound identical
Homophones are words that sound the same but differ in spelling and meaning. English has thousands of them because it borrowed spellings from many languages.
Contronyms
'Cleave' means both to split and to cling
A contronym is its own opposite. Cleave descends from two different Old English verbs that collided into one modern spelling.
Etymology
'Nightmare' has nothing to do with horses
The mare in nightmare was an Old English demon believed to sit on sleepers' chests. Mare the horse is a separate word entirely.