Flip a card, learn a word's secret

Invented by Horace Walpole in a private letter, from 'Serendip,' the old Persian name for Sri Lanka, via a fairy tale about three princes who kept stumbling onto things they weren't looking for.

From Czech 'robota' (compulsory serf labor). Coined by painter Josef Čapek for his brother Karel's play R.U.R. — the robots in it are grown, not built, and they rebel.

Built from 'nostos' (return home) + 'algos' (pain) by Swiss physician Johannes Hofer, who used it to describe a medical condition he observed in homesick soldiers.

From Nahuatl 'āhuacatl,' which also meant 'testicle' — a reference to how the fruit hangs in pairs. Spanish softened it to 'aguacate'; English folk etymology nudged it toward 'avocado,' echoing Spanish 'abogado' (lawyer).

From Hokkien Chinese 'kê-tsiap,' a fermented fish sauce, picked up via Malay trading ports by British sailors in the 1600s–1700s. Tomatoes weren't added until 19th-century America.

From Arabic 'al-kuḥl,' a fine powder used as kohl eyeliner. European alchemists borrowed the word for any finely distilled substance; it only narrowed to 'distilled spirits' centuries later.

From Japanese 'taikun' (大君, 'great lord'), a title for the shogun. US naval officers brought the word home after Commodore Perry's expeditions, and it drifted onto powerful businessmen.

From Japanese 'kara' (empty) + 'okesutora' (orchestra) — itself a loanword borrowed back from English, then recombined and re-exported worldwide.