Because of this phenomenon called elision, these sounds just drop away.
And this happens especially with T and D at the ends of words,
and it happens with consonant clusters.
Wonderful,
which is a perfect example of an etymology or an original meaning that's hiding in plain sight
because it meant simply full of wonder.
Coming up on Word Matters, how words change over time, and are chilled drinks ice or iced.
I'm Emily Brewster, and Word Matters is a new podcast from Merriam-Webster,
produced in collaboration with New England Public Media.
On each episode, Merriam-Webster editors Neil Servin, Amon Shea, Peter Sokolowski,
and I explore some aspect of the English language from the dictionary's vantage point.
What do you think about words picking up new meanings over time?
Is it perhaps awesome?
Fantastic?
Terrific?
Is it just plain old awful?
And can we properly use any of those words without referring to awe, fantasy, or terror?
Here's Peter Sakalowski on one of the most dependable sources of language change, Semantic Drift.
Sometimes I talk about what the job of a lexicographer is, and I think the job is revision.
A lot of times people get the impression that adding new words to the dictionary is what we do,