Mandarin Chinese is the language with the most native speakers at about 920 million.

There are no true synonyms — words with similar meanings always differ in connotation, register, or use.

The Hawaiian alphabet has only 13 letters — 5 vowels and 8 consonants.

Sign languages are full natural languages with their own grammar and syntax, not just manual versions of spoken language.

The alphabet is a Greek innovation — the Greeks added vowels to the Phoenician consonant alphabet around 800 BC.

The word 'rule of thumb' does not have an origin in domestic violence — this is a persistent false etymology.

Linguistic relativity experiments show speakers of languages with more color words distinguish shades faster.

The word 'set' has over 430 definitions in some English dictionaries — the most of any word.

The alphabet is a Greek invention — the Greeks added vowels to the Phoenician consonant alphabet around 800 BC.