hanko
n.— «They knew that the container had been shipped from South Africa, but they didn’t know precisely where the ivory—532 tusks and more than 42,000 small cylinders called hankos—came from.» —“La Isabela’s Final Failure” by Henry Fountain New York Times Feb. 28, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
The word filibuster has a long and colorful history, going back to the days when pirates roamed the high seas. Today it refers to hijacking a piece of legislation. Plus, the language of yoga teachers: When doing a guided meditation, you may hear...
After our conversation about towns with extremely short names, many listeners wrote to tell us about Why, Arizona. Others pointed out that there are towns called Ely in Iowa, Minnesota, and Nevada. Other super-short appellations include Rye, New...