7 Words With Genuinely Surprising Origins

Are “sphinx” and “sphincter” really related to each other?

A photo of a kingfisher with the word “Halcyon” written over it
All photos: Pixabay/Jack Shepherd

--

--

I have a newsletter about crossword puzzles and a podcast about rom-coms. Formerly editorial director @BuzzFeed. Email: JackAShepherd at gmail

Get the Medium app

A button that says 'Download on the App Store', and if clicked it will lead you to the iOS App store
A button that says 'Get it on, Google Play', and if clicked it will lead you to the Google Play store
Jack Shepherd

I have a newsletter about crossword puzzles and a podcast about rom-coms. Formerly editorial director @BuzzFeed. Email: JackAShepherd at gmail