Language and words: 45 trivia questions with sources
The questions combine grammar and punctuation with word origins, sound patterns, writing systems, language families, figures of speech, wordplay, and the ways languages change.
45 questions · 20 easy, 9 medium, 16 hard · 45 with a source link
Suggested round splits
5 ways to break this category into rounds. The printed sheet keeps the whole list in one run, so split it while you plan rather than while you host.
Grammar and punctuation
Parts of speech, case, tense, mood, quotation, apostrophes, and sentence marks.
Words within words
Prefixes, morphemes, acronyms, reduplication, conversion, and word origins.
Sound and meaning
Homophones, onomatopoeia, schwa, metathesis, misheard phrases, and sound change.
Languages and scripts
Language families, multilingual speech, alphabets, abjads, kanji, and ancient writing.
Wordplay and rhetoric
Palindromes, pangrams, similes, oxymorons, comic words, and poetic structure.
All 45 questions with answers
45 carry a pinned source revision
What punctuation mark ends a direct question?
Question markChecked against:
The question mark? (also known as interrogation point, query, or eroteme in journalism) is a punctuation mark that indicates a question or interrogative clause or phrase in many languages.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Question_mark?oldid=1365255154What is the opposite of a synonym?
An antonymChecked against:
An antonym is one of a pair of words with opposite meanings.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposite?oldid=1355664222#Types_of_antonymsWhich language is primarily spoken in Brazil?
PortugueseChecked against:
Brazilian Portuguese (português brasileiro; [poʁtuˈɡe(j)z bɾaziˈleɾu]) is the set of varieties of the Portuguese language native to Brazil.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_Portuguese?oldid=1365681856What do we call a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea?
A nounChecked against:
In grammar, a noun is a word that represents a concrete or abstract thing, like living creatures, places, actions, events, qualities, states of existence, and ideas.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noun?oldid=1358395188How many letters are in the modern English alphabet?
26 lettersChecked against:
Modern English is written with a Latin-script alphabet consisting of 26 letters, with each having both uppercase and lowercase forms.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_alphabet?oldid=1364945547What humorous plural is sometimes used for moose?
MeeseChecked against:
The form meese is sometimes also used humorously as the plural of moose - normally moose or mooses - or even of mouse.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_plurals?oldid=1359743235#Apophonic_pluralsWhich Hawaiian word was borrowed into English?
AlohaChecked against:
Aloha was borrowed from the Hawaiian aloha to the English language.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aloha?oldid=1361860286#EtymologyWhat does the prefix un- usually mean?
Not, opposite ofChecked against:
For instance, there are two different un- prefixes in English: one meaning "not, opposite of", the other meaning "reverse action, deprive of, release from".
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_prefix?oldid=1361171529#Selectional_restrictionsWhat process creates a verb from a noun, adjective, or other word?
VerbificationChecked against:
Verbification, or verbing, is the creation of a verb from a noun, adjective or other word.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_(word_formation)?oldid=1350823278#VerbificationWhat is a group of lines in a poem called?
A stanzaChecked against:
In poetry, a stanza (/ ˈ s t æ n z ə /; from Italian stanza, Italian: [ˈstantsa]; lit. ' room ') is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or indentation.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanza?oldid=1307347128What is the official language of Spain?
SpanishChecked against:
Spanish is the official language of Spain.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_language?oldid=1365991957#EuropeWhat name is given to words such as buzz and hiss that imitate sounds?
OnomatopoeiaChecked against:
Onomatopoeia is a type of word, or the process of creating a word, that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests a sound that it refers to.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onomatopoeia?oldid=1358752178What is the past tense of teach?
TaughtChecked against:
Verbs continuing the Rückumlaut pattern: bring–brought, buy–bought, seek–sought, sell–sold, teach–taught, tell–told, and think–thought.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_irregular_verbs?oldid=1363180906#Weak_verbsWhich punctuation mark can indicate the elision of one or more sounds?
The apostropheChecked against:
In many languages, especially European languages, the apostrophe is used to indicate the elision of one or more sounds, as in English.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostrophe?oldid=1365606732#As_a_mark_of_elisionHow many languages are involved in bilingualism?
TwoChecked against:
When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multilingualism?oldid=1364641504What kind of dictionary sorts words alphabetically from their last letter toward their first?
A rhyming dictionaryChecked against:
A rhyming dictionary is based on sorting words in alphabetical order starting from the last to the first letter of the word.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alphabetical_order?oldid=1361673699#Similar_orderingsWhat is a palindrome?
A word, number, phrase, or other sequence of symbols that reads the same backwards as forwardsChecked against:
A palindrome (/ ˈ p æ l ɪ n d r oʊ m /) is a word, number, phrase, or other sequence of symbols that reads the same backwards as forwards, such as madam or racecar, the date " 22/02/2022 ", or the sentence "A man, a plan, a canal – Panama ".
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palindrome?oldid=1357755454Which Romance language belongs to the Indo-European family?
FrenchChecked against:
French is a Romance language (meaning that it is descended primarily from Vulgar Latin) that evolved out of the Gallo-Romance dialects spoken in northern France.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_language?oldid=1365270290#HistoryWhat part of speech describes a noun?
An adjectiveChecked against:
An adjective (abbreviated ADJ) is a word that describes or defines a noun or noun phrase.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjective?oldid=1355182032Why are quotation marks placed around exact spoken words?
Direct speech, a quotation, or a phraseChecked against:
Quotation marks are punctuation marks used in pairs in various writing systems to identify direct speech, a quotation, or a phrase.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotation_mark?oldid=1362801953What is a homophone?
A word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning or in spellingChecked against:
A homophone (/ ˈ h ɒ m ə f oʊ n, ˈ h oʊ m ə -/) is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning or in spelling.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homophone?oldid=1353981755How many syllables does a trisyllable have?
ThreeChecked against:
Similar terms include disyllable (and disyllabic; also bisyllable and bisyllabic) for a word of two syllables; trisyllable (and trisyllabic) for a word of three syllables; and polysyllable (and polysyllabic), which may refer to any word of more than one syllable.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syllable?oldid=1364042296When was Esperanto created?
The late 1870s and early 1880sChecked against:
Esperanto was created in the late 1870s and early 1880s by L. L. Zamenhof, a Jewish ophthalmologist from Białystok, then part of the Russian Empire, but now part of Poland.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto?oldid=1364848530#CreationWhat is an acronym formed from the first letters of a phrase?
An abbreviation formed using the initial letters of a multi-word name or phraseChecked against:
An acronym is an abbreviation formed using the initial letters of a multi-word name or phrase.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acronym?oldid=1364213132How can silent letters arise?
Sound changes occurring without a spelling changeChecked against:
Sound changes occurring without a spelling change.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_letter?oldid=1361871649#EnglishWhich case is used for the first letter of a proper noun in English?
A capital letterChecked against:
Capitalization (American English) or capitalisation (Commonwealth English) is the practice of writing a word with its first letter as a capital letter (uppercase letter) and the remaining letters in lower case, in writing systems with a case distinction.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalization?oldid=1365007816What does etymology study?
The study of the origin and evolution of wordsChecked against:
Etymology (/ ˌ ɛ t ɪ ˈ m ɒ l ə dʒ i / ET -ih- MOL -ə-jee) is the study of the origin and evolution of words - including their constituent units of sound and meaning - across time.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology?oldid=1363804367Which writing system represents Japanese words alongside kana?
KanjiChecked against:
Kanji (/ ˈ k æ n. dʒ i, ˈ k ɑː n. -/; Japanese: 漢字, hiragana: かんじ, Katakana: カンジ, pronounced [kaɲ.dʑi] ⓘ, ' Han characters ') are logographic Chinese characters, historically adapted from Chinese writing scripts, used in the writing of Japanese.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanji?oldid=1364249721What is the smallest meaningful unit in language?
A morphemeChecked against:
Given the definition of a morpheme as "the smallest meaningful unit", nanosyntax aims to account for idioms in which an entire syntactic tree often contributes "the smallest meaningful unit".
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morpheme?oldid=1357066498#Changing_definitionsWhat rhetorical device compares two things using like or as?
A simileChecked against:
A simile (/ ˈ s ɪ m ɪ l i /) is a type of figure of speech that directly compares two unrelated things, using wording to explicitly make the comparison (often, with a grammatical structure of the type "x is like y").
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simile?oldid=1361263513Which language family includes English, Hindi, Greek, and Spanish?
Indo-EuropeanChecked against:
Today the individual Indo-European languages with the most native speakers are Spanish, Hindustani (Hindi and Urdu), English, Portuguese, Bengali, Punjabi, Russian, Marathi, German, French, and Persian; many others spoken by smaller groups are in danger of extinction.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-European_languages?oldid=1365487373What is the dot above a lowercase i or j called?
The tittleChecked against:
The tittle or superscript dot is the dot on top of lowercase i and j.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tittle?oldid=1361961499How does an oxymoron combine ideas?
Concepts with opposite meaningsChecked against:
An oxymoron (plurals: oxymorons and oxymora) is a figure of speech that juxtaposes concepts with opposite meanings within a word or in a phrase that is a self-contradiction.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxymoron?oldid=1341701285How is switching between languages within one conversation described?
Code-switchingChecked against:
Code-switching involves the capacity of bilingual individuals to switch between different languages within a single conversation.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code-switching?oldid=1365234010#UseWhat other name does the ampersand have?
The and signChecked against:
The ampersand, also known as the and sign, is the logogram &, representing the conjunction "and".
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampersand?oldid=1361060898How does an abjad differ from an alphabet?
Only consonants are represented by letter signsChecked against:
An abjad (/ ˈ æ b dʒ æ d / ⓘ; or abgad, lit. ' alphabet ') is a writing system in which only consonants are represented by letter signs, leaving the vowels to be inferred by the reader (unless represented otherwise, such as by diacritics).
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abjad?oldid=1365309583Which English sentence is famous for using every letter of the alphabet?
A quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dogChecked against:
In an article titled "Current Notes" in the February 9, 1885, edition, the phrase is mentioned as a good practice sentence for writing students: "A favorite copy set by writing teachers for their pupils is the following, because it contains every letter of the alphabet: ' A quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_quick_brown_fox_jumps_over_the_lazy_dog?oldid=1363164708#HistoryWhat can be created when someone mishears a poem or song and substitutes similar-sounding words?
MondegreensChecked against:
Mondegreens are most often created by a person listening to a poem or a song; the listener, being unable to hear a lyric clearly, substitutes words that sound similar and make some kind of sense.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondegreen?oldid=1364231388Name the grammatical mood used for commands.
The imperativeChecked against:
The imperative mood is a grammatical mood that forms a command or request.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperative_mood?oldid=1356285741What is an inherently funny word?
A word that is humorous without contextChecked against:
An inherently funny word is a word that is humorous without context, often more for its phonetic structure than for its meaning.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inherently_funny_word?oldid=1360309630Which sound change swaps sounds within a word, as in ask becoming aks?
MetathesisChecked against:
Metathesis (/ m ə ˈ t æ θ ə s ɪ s / mə- TATH -ə-siss; from Greek μετάθεσις, from μετατίθημι "to put in a different order") is the transposition of sounds or syllables in a word or of words in a sentence.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metathesis_(linguistics)?oldid=1363267691What does the linguistic term schwa describe?
A reduced mid central vowelChecked against:
A reduced mid central vowel is known as a schwa.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid_central_vowel?oldid=1360793361Which ancient script was deciphered partly through the Behistun Inscription?
CuneiformChecked against:
It was important to the decipherment of cuneiform, as it is the longest known trilingual cuneiform inscription, written in Old Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian (a variety of Akkadian).
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behistun_inscription?oldid=1365730948What is reduplication in word formation?
A morphological process in which the root or stem of a word, part of that, or the whole word is repeated exactly or with a slight changeChecked against:
In linguistics, reduplication is a morphological process in which the root or stem of a word, part of that, or the whole word is repeated exactly or with a slight change.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reduplication?oldid=1365132222Why is the Great Vowel Shift important to English spelling?
The major reason English spellings now often deviate considerably from how they represent pronunciationsChecked against:
The standardization of English spelling began in the 15th and 16th centuries; the Great Vowel Shift is the major reason English spellings now often deviate considerably from how they represent pronunciations.
Source: Wikipedia, pinned revisionPrint source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Vowel_Shift?oldid=1360537139