Oxford School Dictionary of Word Origins

There is a hardback and I definitely prefer hardbacks, however, it has more words in it, I go to look fro something in my new one and it is not there and I check the old one and it is, please bring the old one back and the hardback - now all that said the derivations it does give are awesome! So informative, it is an amazing book,

A friend had this book and I would get lost in it for an hour or so each time just reading the stories of how words got their meanings. I bought it for my mother based on that and she similarly will pick it up and just happily read the histories of different words. If you are the sort of person who enjoys derivations and books such as "Mother Tongue, English and How it Got that Way, " then you'll enjoy this book. However, do realize that the words in the book are basically school dictionary level, there are not a lot of college level or above words.

This is a delightful and easy to read reference book explaining the origin of commonly used words and terms. It explains the various national origins and how they were originally used in those ancient societies. I recommend it for anyone wanting to write well and for college students wanting to make an impression on the professors.

This book does a good job of explaining the origins of words without giving you a lot of other new unusual words to figure out. Knowing the origin of words is a great helpyo fully understanding words. Several of my students have praised it and bought one of their own. I only wish it covered more words.

Fantastic book, easily explained for kids but interesting to keep the adults involved

It's included most derivation what I need. It's good.

The best dictionary to find the words history

This was a great resource that has helped my daughter tremendously as she looks up words. The history and additional information makes it easy to see how the current meaning and the origin relate and changed over time. Definitely recommended.

It was in a used condition. Stamps inside, pencil marks and the edges are tear and wear.

Well laid out. Interesting section in the middle with different topics that you can dip in and out of for interest.

This dictionary print is not only monochrome,There are used some tones of blue colour.And paper is clearly white, font design is simple. So the atmosphere is close to a picture book(There are no illustrations on this dictionary though).I mean it is fun design to read, I can read this book even after I use my eyes a lot at working.There are nice midget illustrations in some funny origin episodes.

Great

I ordered this for my daughter who is keen to research the origins of words. The book is absolutely fantastic and exactly what we expected.