Tag: word origins

The Letter Boxed Linguistics of Borrowed Words: French, Spanish, Italian, and Latin Loan Words in English

September 11, 2026 · derrick

If you’ve spent any time puzzling over the NYT Letter Boxed game, you’ve probably noticed that some solutions feel surprisingly elegant — short, vowel-rich words that chain together beautifully. Many of those satisfying finds share something in common: they’re borrowed words, imported into English from French, Spanish, Italian, or Latin centuries ago. Understanding word origins […]

Letter Boxed’s Crossword Influence: Why Crossword-Specific Obscure Words Appear in Puzzles

September 8, 2026 · derrick

If you’ve spent any time solving Letter Boxed on the New York Times website, you’ve probably had that moment — you’re staring at the puzzle, cycling through every word you know, and suddenly you type in something like TACE or ALEW on a whim, and the game accepts it. Where do these strange little words […]