Japanese culture gives us such words as geisha, haiku, kimono, wasabi, and zen, as well as several terms from Japanese martial arts

Shashi Tharoor's World of Words is a weekly column in which the politician, diplomat, writer and wordsmith par excellence dissects words and language

If “blurb” seemed an unlikely eponym, so too does “candy”, which traditional linguists believe is derived from the Sanskrit word Kharidakah

India became illiberal; in the name of authenticity, we risk losing decency

Anaphora helps reinforce understanding because its repetitions make it easier to remember

William’s followers became a new French ruling class and, like colonizers everywhere, imposed their language on the society they now ruled

It’s a tribute to the absorptive capacity of English that there are estimated to be as many as 1,000 words of Indian origin

The author-politician stresses that we will need journalists who are critical in guiding our journey to becoming a more informed, empathetic, and inclusive society.

Dubai - Yes, that short form for vaccination has swept the honours board

Eggcorns are alarmingly common, even in the pages of newspapers. How often have you seen the eggcorn “day-today operations” (instead of day-to-day)

In the Modi government’s second term, Parliament has ceased to be the deliberative forum it was intended to be.

Let me set the record straight. I didn't sign the letter (whose text had not, in any case, been shown to me) because I felt I needed additional time 

The incident is the latest episode in a list of transgressions that mark the track record of this government.