Language is a living archive. Hidden inside the phrases you use every day are stories of ancient wars, medieval punishments, market swindles, and superstitions so bizarre they’d make your jaw drop.

Idioms are weird, funny, catchy, and have an incredible ability to convey a lot of meaning in a small number of words. They often have strange or unique origins and evolve over time as they become a ...

This week on Ask a Teacher, we consider expressions, or idioms, and offer some advice for learning them. An idiom is an expression formed from two or more words. But an idiom’s meaning often cannot be ...

English is not an easy language to learn. Not only do you have to contend with compound expressions (like “make out” or “turn up”), but you must understand expressions that barely seem tethered to ...

Anatoly Liberman is back! This time, he brings a book about the history of English idioms, “Take My Word For It.” Modern English loves an idiom. We use them all the time. “Take the cake.” “Eat crow.” ...

For those who want to organize their knowledge of compound word readings, the origins of four-character idioms, and the ...

Idioms can be especially confusing for young children because they often interpret language literally. Even when they ...