Wordle went from a gift to a global habit
Josh Wardle built the once-a-day word game for his partner; The New York Times bought it in 2022 and millions now play daily.
What 'prompt engineering' actually means
It is the craft of writing clear, effective instructions for an AI model -- and it became common enough that major dictionaries now list it as a word.
Anagrams have delighted word lovers for centuries
Rearranging the letters of a word or name into a new one was a favorite pastime long before mobile word games.
English is a world-class word collector
From 'ketchup' to 'safari' to 'pajamas,' English has borrowed words from hundreds of languages around the globe.
Sudoku's modern boom started in Japan
Built on a 1979 US puzzle called Number Place, sudoku was popularized in Japan in the 1980s before sweeping the globe.
Some words are their own opposites
'Cleave' can mean to split apart or to cling together; such words are called contronyms, or 'Janus words.'
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