| #9244, aired 2025-01-09 | WORD HISTORY $400: Going back to steam-engine cars, this word for a limo driver is from the French for "to heat" or "to stoke" a chauffeur |
| #9244, aired 2025-01-09 | WORD HISTORY $800: We borrowed this word for a desire to travel from German Wanderlust |
| #9244, aired 2025-01-09 | WORD HISTORY $1200: From the name of an ancient philosopher, it's someone with discriminating taste in food & drink an epicurean (epicure) |
| #9244, aired 2025-01-09 | WORD HISTORY $2000: This silvery-white metallic element was named for an asteroid that bears the name of an epithet of Athena palladium |
| #9244, aired 2025-01-09 | WORD HISTORY $2,800 (Daily Double): William Makepeace Thackeray coined both of these mashups of 2 top British universities Oxbridge & Camford |
| #8806, aired 2023-02-13 | WORD HISTORY $200: Norman Mailer added a suffix to "fact" to get this, now meaning a fact of little importance a factoid |
| #8806, aired 2023-02-13 | WORD HISTORY $400: We didn't have this word for a person who studies the natural & physical world until William Whewell invented it in 1834 a scientist |
| #8806, aired 2023-02-13 | WORD HISTORY $800: Translating a work by Goethe, Thomas Carlyle used this hyphenated term for forgetful, though not to describe a professor absent-minded |
| #8806, aired 2023-02-13 | WORD HISTORY $1,000 (Daily Double): Reviewing a murder mystery in 1930, Donald Gordon coined this inquisitive 3-words-in-one word for a detective story a whodunnit |
| #8806, aired 2023-02-13 | WORD HISTORY $1000: Lewis Carroll coined this word, perhaps as a portmanteau of "chuckle" & "snort" chortle |
| #8755, aired 2022-12-02 | WORD HISTORY $400: Makes sense--it once meant the piece of wood behind others in a fireplace; now it's a bunch of unfilled orders a backlog |
| #8755, aired 2022-12-02 | WORD HISTORY $800: Its obsolete meanings include meek & obedient; its solete meaning is bosomy buxom |
| #8755, aired 2022-12-02 | WORD HISTORY $1200: Originally liquid poured out as a sacrifice to a deity, now it's just a fancy word for an alcoholic drink libation |
| #8755, aired 2022-12-02 | WORD HISTORY $1600: It sounds odd now that in "Dracula" the count says, "You will need, after your journey, to refresh yourself by making your" this toilet |
| #8755, aired 2022-12-02 | WORD HISTORY $2000: From Greek for "people" & "leader", historically it meant any popular leader as well as one who misleads the people demagogue |
| #7942, aired 2019-03-05 | WORD HISTORY $200: Gaelic for "water of life" gave us this word for a drink you might have with a little water whiskey |
| #7942, aired 2019-03-05 | WORD HISTORY $400: You can thank Ottoman imports for the name of this bird that was once confused with the guinea fowl turkey |
| #7942, aired 2019-03-05 | WORD HISTORY $600: It was originally a string, perhaps to help find your way in a labyrinth; then it was a piece of evidence that helps solve a crime a clue |
| #7942, aired 2019-03-05 | WORD HISTORY $800: The word "companion" refers to anyone with whom you'd eat this food item, literally bread |
| #7942, aired 2019-03-05 | WORD HISTORY $1000: A borrowing from the French gave us this -ism, the concern for the welfare of others, as opposed to egoism altruism |
| #7737, aired 2018-04-10 | WORD HISTORY $400: This word for a bad dream once also meant a monster that makes you feel suffocated while you sleep a nightmare |
| #7737, aired 2018-04-10 | WORD HISTORY $800: It can contain billions of stars & takes its name from the Greek for "milk" galaxy |
| #7737, aired 2018-04-10 | WORD HISTORY $1200: They say you'll never see a U-Haul behind this coffin-bearing vehicle, from Old French for a frame to carry candles a hearse |
| #7737, aired 2018-04-10 | WORD HISTORY $1600: Those listening to this squeezable instrument may be surprised to know the word is from the French for "harmony" accordion |
| #7737, aired 2018-04-10 | WORD HISTORY $2000: A statistical term or a synonym for ordinary, this adjective may have come from Arabic for "damaged goods" average |
| #4867, aired 2005-11-08 | WORD HISTORY $200: Rav is Hebrew for "teacher" or "master"; an "I" sound to mean "my" was added to create this word we use in English rabbi |
| #4867, aired 2005-11-08 | WORD HISTORY $400: The word leech comes from an Old English word for this modern occupation doctor |
| #4867, aired 2005-11-08 | WORD HISTORY $600: (Cheryl of the Clue Crew shows some Greek on the monitor.) The name of this typographical mark comes from the Greek words para, meaning "beside", & tithenai, "to put" parentheses |
| #4867, aired 2005-11-08 | WORD HISTORY $800: English words drawn from the Algonquian language include moose, terrapin & this other word for groundhog woodchuck |
| #4867, aired 2005-11-08 | WORD HISTORY $1000: The Latin mulsus, meaning "sweet", gave us the name of this chocolate dessert mousse |
| #4441, aired 2003-12-22 | WORD HISTORY $200: Logically enough, it combines a word meaning "child" & old criminal slang for "to steal" kidnap |
| #4441, aired 2003-12-22 | WORD HISTORY $400: The Pentagon drafted this word meaning "fix firmly" for a program of linking reporters with combat units embed |
| #4441, aired 2003-12-22 | WORD HISTORY $600: It was coined in 1854 after "marine vivarium" proved unsatisfactory aquarium |
| #4441, aired 2003-12-22 | WORD HISTORY $800: If you believe in nothing, you may be attracted to this philosophy, from the Latin for "nothing" nihilism |
| #4441, aired 2003-12-22 | WORD HISTORY $1000: The name of the go-between for Troilus & Cressida evolved into this word meaning "to cater to low tastes" pander |
| #2756, aired 1996-09-02 | WORD HISTORY $200: The titles Kaiser & Czar were both derived from this earlier title Caesar |
| #2756, aired 1996-09-02 | WORD HISTORY $400: Pants, as an item of apparel, is short for this word, from an Italian comic character Pantalone |
| #2756, aired 1996-09-02 | WORD HISTORY $600: Dating from the 16th century, goodbye is a contraction of these 4 words god be with you |
| #2756, aired 1996-09-02 | WORD HISTORY $1000: Coined by a 9-year-old circa 1940, it's a 1 followed by 100 zeros a googol |
| #2756, aired 1996-09-02 | WORD HISTORY $3,000 (Daily Double): Copper was named for this island where it was abundant Cyprus |
| #8014, aired 2019-06-13 | WORD HISTORY: This word for a bug or malfunction was popularized in the 1962 book "Into Orbit" by the Mercury astronauts glitch |
| #7141, aired 2015-10-05 | WORD HISTORY: From the Latin for "buy back", it once referred to buying a slave's freedom & today can refer to being saved from sin redeem (or redemption) |
| #6270, aired 2011-12-16 | WORD HISTORY: A Roman legal term for a debtor sentenced to servitude is the origin of this term for a slave to a vice addict |
| #6079, aired 2011-02-03 | WORD HISTORY: Since the 1600s this 8-letter word has meant men of letters; a punning form of it refers to celebrities literati |
| #5752, aired 2009-09-22 | WORD HISTORY: Once a type of Roman arena, in the 18th century this 6-letter word gained its current meaning as a type of entertainment circus |
| #5345, aired 2007-11-30 | WORD HISTORY: This term for a deadly substance may derive from the name of a love goddess venom |
| #4992, aired 2006-05-02 | WORD HISTORY: One Mongol tribe or army, it came to mean "a vast number" because the fierce Mongol warriors seemed so numerous a horde |
| #4522, aired 2004-04-13 | WORD HISTORY: Circa 1860 Robert FitzRoy of Britain's meteorological office rejected prediction & prophecy in favor of this word forecast |
| #2913, aired 1997-04-09 | WORD HISTORY: Before this word came to mean an extraterrestrial, it was used as an adjective meaning "warlike" Martian |
