Words & Language Trivia Quiz

Question 1

What is a 'palindrome'?

Accepted Answer

A word or phrase that reads the same forwards and backwards

Answer

A word borrowed from another language

Answer

A word that sounds like what it means

Answer

A word with no vowels

Question 2

What language has the most words?

Accepted Answer

English

Answer

Chinese

Answer

French

Answer

Spanish

Question 3

What does 'etymology' mean?

Accepted Answer

The study of the origin and history of words

Answer

The study of insects

Answer

The study of languages in society

Answer

The study of dialects

Question 4

Which language gave English the most loanwords?

Accepted Answer

French

Answer

German

Answer

Spanish

Answer

Latin

Question 5

What is a 'pangram'?

Accepted Answer

A sentence that uses every letter of the alphabet at least once

Answer

A sentence in which every word starts with the same letter

Answer

A phrase that means the same thing in multiple languages

Answer

A word that has opposite meanings

Question 6

What does the word 'serendipity' mean?

Accepted Answer

The occurrence of good luck or happy accidents by chance

Answer

A feeling of deep happiness

Answer

A beautiful view from a high place

Answer

The smell of rain on dry earth

Question 7

The word 'shampoo' comes from which language?

Accepted Answer

Hindi

Answer

Arabic

Answer

Persian

Answer

Portuguese

Question 8

What is an 'oxymoron'?

Accepted Answer

A figure of speech combining two contradictory or opposing terms

Answer

A word with two opposite meanings

Answer

A word that sounds like what it describes

Answer

A very long word with many syllables

Question 9

Which is the most translated book in the world?

Accepted Answer

The Bible

Answer

The Quran

Answer

Don Quixote

Answer

The Little Prince

Question 10

What does the Japanese word 'emoji' literally mean?

Accepted Answer

Picture character

Answer

Emotion picture

Answer

E-mail symbol

Answer

Digital icon

Question 11

What is the longest word in the English language in common use?

Accepted Answer

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

Answer

Antidisestablishmentarianism

Answer

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Answer

Floccinaucinihilipilification

Question 12

How many letters are in the Hawaiian alphabet?

Accepted Answer

13

Answer

10

Answer

18

Answer

26

Question 13

What is 'onomatopoeia'?

Accepted Answer

Words that phonetically imitate or resemble the sound they describe

Answer

A word borrowed from a proper noun

Answer

A word with no direct translation in other languages

Answer

A figure of speech using exaggeration

Question 14

What is the term for a word that means the opposite of another word?

Accepted Answer

Antonym

Answer

Synonym

Answer

Homonym

Answer

Polyseme

Question 15

Where does the word 'robot' come from?

Accepted Answer

Czech 'robota' meaning forced labour or drudgery

Answer

German 'Roboter' meaning machine

Answer

Latin 'automata' meaning self-moving

Answer

Greek 'mekhanikos' meaning mechanical

Question 16

What does the word 'quiz' mean in most dictionaries of etymology?

Accepted Answer

Unknown — its origin is genuinely mysterious

Answer

A quick test

Answer

A strange or odd person

Answer

A game of questions

Question 17

What is a 'loanword'?

Accepted Answer

A word adopted from another language with little or no modification

Answer

A word used only temporarily before being replaced

Answer

A word that was invented and later deleted from the dictionary

Answer

A word used in informal speech only

Question 18

The word 'chocolate' ultimately traces back to which indigenous language?

Accepted Answer

Maya/Nahuatl (Aztec)

Answer

Spanish

Answer

Quechua (Inca)

Answer

Taino

Question 19

What is a 'homophone'?

Accepted Answer

Two words that sound the same but have different meanings and spelling

Answer

A word with multiple meanings

Answer

A word that is its own antonym

Answer

A word invented by combining two others

Question 20

Which punctuation mark is known as an 'Oxford comma'?

Accepted Answer

The comma before the final 'and' in a list of three or more items

Answer

The semicolon before a list

Answer

The colon introducing a list

Answer

The quotation marks around a list