Choose the Right Word

February 24, 2026

It’s helpful to learn the origins of the words you are using so that you can choose the right word when you need it.

One of my favorite things about the English language is that the tone of what you’re saying changes depending on the word you use. We can thank the Norman French for this. In 1066, they invaded England and imposed a Latinate vocabulary on the existing West Germanic language, Old English. This means that the English we know, speak, and write today has two parallel sets of vocabularies, Germanic and Latinate. There are two ways to say most things.

Fatherly or paternal. Underground or subterranean. Trek or voyage. Ask or inquire. Start or commence. Bug or insect. Ache or pain.

The sound of your writing can change depending on the linguistic root from which you pull. Germanic words can be quick and percussive, while Latinate ones can be lingering and melodic. (Notice the difference between bug and insect, trek and voyage.)

Whether your writing tends more Germanic or more Latinate, at the heart of all of the words you use is a concrete image or object, like the terra or earth of subterranean. As the writer Lydia Davis points out, the words gregarious and egregious both have the word for “flock” or “herd” at their origins. To be gregarious means you like to mingle with the flock. If something is egregious, it stands out from the herd. Likewise, clothes can’t be “dilapidated” because at the root of the word is lapis or stone. A stone wall can be dilapidated, but not a pair of cotton pants. Additional examples Davis provides include the idea of sowing seed in the words sporadic and diaspora; pottery shards in ostracism; gnawing in rodents and erosion; and wild goats in caprice and capricious.

A few years ago I worked with a writer who wanted to “excavate” the history of an aerial phenomenon. I asked if they were sure this was word they wanted to use because excavate contains the idea of digging or hollowing out earth. To use excavate to describe something happening in the sky is in conflict with its root. Perhaps one could study, look at, or contemplate this aerial history instead.

If you understand the image or object in the heart of the words you are using, your writing will become more precise and visually imaginative. It will be a pleasure to read.

If you are preparing a manuscript for production, and you are interested in cultivating your ear for the sound of your writing or you want to figure out how to use your words more precisely, maybe I can help. Let me know what you’re thinking here.

Source: Lydia Davis, Essays One (New York: Picador, 2019), 245-248.