You may remember an interview we did last year with Katie Raynolds, a remarkable 10th grader and dedicated linguaphile from Seattle, Washington. Well, Katie just spent a busy week with us here at the VT's New York office as our editorial intern! She graciously put together this word list:

I discovered when I searched through the Dept. of Word Lists that they're based on a subject a person is passionate about. So I thought, what is my passion? The answer clearly is: words! I found the following words that serve to describe other words, and I explain how we use them. For some I also included interesting stories about their origins.

Eponym, a name derived from the name of a person (real or imaginary). Examples: Achilles tendon (Achilles the Greek hero), Freudian slip (Sigmund Freud), Louisiana (King Louis XIV).

Onomatopoeia, words that imitate the sound that they denote. Examples: Pow! Bam! (a type of onomatopoeia that was made popular in comic books), chickadee, meow.

Sibilant, a consonant characterized by a hissing sound (like s or sh). The word sibilant comes from the Latin word sibil (hiss), which is actually onomatopoeia for the sounds that a snake makes. Example of sibilance: Sally sells sea shell by the sea shore.

Not a Subscriber Yet?

Try it RISK FREE! When you subscribe you get:

Full access to the Visual Thesaurus, including:

Easy-to-use interactive thesaurus and dictionary to explore words and language
Over 145,000 English words and 115,000 meanings to find the right word and discover related meanings
39,000 proper nouns, including historical figures, phrases and trademarks
Intuitive word maps - free associate, brainstorm and use words precisely
Definitions and example sentences to master word usage
Meanings color-coded to indicate parts of speech and improve your grammar
Five additional languages: Spanish, German, Italian, French and Dutch (beta)
Two and three-dimensional views - rotate word maps to reveal complex relationships
Audio pronunciation in American and British accents
Printing and emailing word maps

And exclusive access to our online magazine dedicated to language and the creative process:

Access to great articles like this one.
Features and interviews with writers, ad and marketing creatives, lexicographers, teachers and more.
Join a community passionate about words, language and creativity.

14 day risk-free trial!

We think you'll love the Visual Thesaurus, but if you don't, we make it really easy to cancel your subscription. Just click on "My Account", log in with your username and password, and click "Cancel My Subscription". If you are still within the 14 day trial period, we'll give you the option to receive a full refund -- no questions asked.