Dictionary of American Cultural Reference
This dictionary explains some of the thousands of cultural references to American life and history that you come across when reading about the USA. It contains 1000 references to people, places, events, brand names, history, lifestyle, art & culture and institutions.
The basic criteria for the selection are that we want to include what you need to know when reading American books, magazines, newspapers, listening to American podcasts or watching American films and videos.
These are the cultural references to American life and culture that not everyone might know about.
100 Latin words that shaped English
An A-Z guide to 100 of the Latin words that we still use today, embedded in our English language.
Each word is shown with its Latin root, its modern meaning, examples of use, and its backstory – what are its ancient roots, and how did it come to English?
All these words are drawn from Latin, one of the classical languages that have given so many complex words to English.
100 Persian words that shaped English
English owes a surprising debt to Persian. Because of the Silk Road and the later British presence in India, many Persian words travelled through Greek, Latin, or Hindi before landing in English.
These words often carry a sense of exoticism, antiquity, or high-level craftsmanship. Here are 100 sophisticated words with Persian roots.
This is part of Highdale’s Word Histories series, sharing word stories, etymologies, cognates with other languages, and illustrating the history of the English language’s borrowing and development over more than a thousand years.
Other titles to come:
