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The Greek word 'koimeterion', meaning sleeping place, gradually transformed to the word CEMETERY

HYSTERIA was originally held to be a disease of women caused by a disturbance to their womb (Greek hyster)

The army colour, and more commonly the uniform material KHAKI, comes from an Urdu word which simply means 'dusty'

PAPARAZZO, meaning an intrusive photographer, is the name of a character in the 1960 film La Dolce Vita who would stop at nothing to get his snaps

In the 18th century, important men wore larger, costlier wigs. Hence the term BIGWIG

Calling an FBI officer a G-MAN does not stand for Government Man. It dates back to the G Division of the Dublin Police Force who investigated anti-government activities

APPLE OF HIS EYE first appears in the Bible referring to God's fondness for Jacob

The second shortest English word to contain all five vowels is EUNOIA, meaning 'beautiful thinking'

The term 'bumper crop' probably comes from a BUMPER being a large wine cup, used for toasting in celebrations

The Ethiopian town of Kaffa gave its name to COFFEE, the first place it was discovered in the 16th century