Word of the Week
Danny Bate, our resident linguist, offers a selection of everyday Czech words, to discuss their history and show how interconnected and familiar the Czech language can be.
latest articles
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Word of the Week
Word of the Week: chvíle – ‘while’
Sometimes, a language can get a word from another language, and preserve aspects of the word that are changed in the original source.
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Word of the Week
Word of the Week: dvanáct – ‘twelve’
But where does the -náct bit of dvanáct come from? English -teen looks like ten, yet -náct doesn't much like the Czech for ‘ten’: deset.
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Word of the Week
Word of the Week: slon – 'elephant'
Experts have argued over the exact origins of Czech’s distinctive word for ‘elephant’...
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Word of the Week
Word of the Week: třešeň – ‘cherry’
Many ordinary Czech words have been on quite impressive geographical journeys, including Czech's word for 'cherry'.
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Word of the Week
Word of the Week: osel – ‘donkey’
This stubborn but useful animal was much liked by the Romans, who depended on donkeys for transporting goods around their empire...
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Word of the Week
Word of the Week: sloka – ‘verse’
Sloka may seem like a humble Czech word, referring to the verse of a song or a stanza of poem, but it has a very distinct origin...
