What’s on the Etymology poster
A 6-row table: Change · What happens · Example.
The standard categories of semantic change.
- Broadening — Meaning widens — 'dog' — one breed to all
- Narrowing — Meaning shrinks — 'meat' — any food to flesh
- Amelioration — Becomes more positive — 'nice' — foolish to pleasant
- Pejoration — Becomes more negative — 'silly' — blessed to foolish
- Metaphor — Extended by analogy — 'mouse' — animal to device
- Semantic bleaching — Loses force — 'literally', 'awesome'
Complaints about words changing meaning are as old as writing. Every word you consider correct is the product of the same process.
Questions about the Etymology poster
- What’s on the Etymology poster?
- A 6-row table: Change · What happens · Example. The standard categories of semantic change. Broadening — Meaning widens — 'dog' — one breed to all; Narrowing — Meaning shrinks — 'meat' — any food to flesh; Amelioration — Becomes more positive — 'nice' — foolish to pleasant; Pejoration — Becomes more negative — 'silly' — blessed to foolish; Metaphor — Extended by analogy — 'mouse' — animal to device; Semantic bleaching — Loses force — 'literally', 'awesome'. Complaints about words changing meaning are as old as writing. Every word you consider correct is the product of the same process.
- Who is the Etymology poster for?
- Etymology belongs to the Languages section rather than to a school year, because languages is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning how languages work can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the Etymology poster?
- Meaning change is not random. It follows a small number of well-attested paths. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Etymology belongs on the wall where that languages work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with Etymology?
- Bilingualism, Grammatical Case and Code-Switching sit alongside Etymology in the Languages section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.BilingualismGrammatical CaseCode-Switching
- Is the Etymology poster free to download and print?
- Yes. Etymology downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Languages section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the Etymology poster print at?
- Etymology is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Etymology loses nothing.Printing guide
Related posters
Charts that sit alongside Etymology on the same wall.
Browse every Languages poster, or start from the full catalogue.