In the late 18th century, the word donkey started to replace ass, almost certainly to avoid confusion with the word arse, which, due to sound changes that had affected the language, had come to be pronounced the same way (/æs/ > /ɑ:s/ and /ɑ:rs/ > /ɑ:s/). The /ɑ:s/ pronunciation of ass was eventually restored to /æs/ in order to reserve the distinction, but not without the curious consequence of American English losing the word arse entirely and assigning its meaning to ass. The origin of the word "donkey" itself is unknown.

Crayons got their name from the wife of one of the founders of Crayola. She combined the words craie (French for chalk) with the first part of the word oleaginous (the oily paraffin wax) to make the word "crayola."

The word walnut derives from Old English wealhhnutu, literally "foreign nut", wealh meaning "foreign" . The walnut was so called because it was introduced to England from Gaul and Italy.

The word "tongue" can be used as a metonym for language, as in the phrase "mother tongue". In many languages the word for "tongue" and "language" are the same. A common temporary failure in word retrieval from memory is referred to as the tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon. "Tongue twisted" is a term used to described being unable to pronounce a word or phrase correctly. A "tongue twister" is a phrase made specifically to be very difficult to pronounce. Items relating to the tongue are often called lingual, which comes from the Latin word lingua, or glossal, which comes from the Greek word for tongue.

The word decimation comes from Latin, and means "removal of a tenth." In current English use, the word decimation is usually used to refer to an extreme reduction in number, which is usually greater than 10%. When a Roman cohort was selected for punishment by decimation, it was divided into groups of ten men. Each group then cast lots, and the soldier on whom the lot fell was executed by his nine comrades, often by stoning or clubbing. The remaining soldiers were given rations of barley instead of wheat and forced to sleep outside of the Roman encampment. Because the punishment fell by lot, all soldiers in the selected cohort were eligible for execution, regardless of rank or distinction. As a result, the threat of decimation inspired fear and resolve in the Roman Legions.