Why does the English language have big words?

Answer 1

a lot of bigger words are just combinations of different roots, so ironically, longer words are easier to know if you know the roots, such as pre-, -itis, necro-, etc.

____

There are lots of reasons. One reason is that some words were formed from more than one small words... expressing a more complex idea. Another reason is that English got a lot of words from other languages, and some of those words were big.<br><br>Another reason is scientific names... there are longer and more complex names for things like goats and horses that are used in science, in order to be more specific and exact. ... this is actually the same reason that many people use bigger words, because a big word might have a more specific and exact meaning than a shorter one. "Horrifying" is more specific, and incorporates more nuances of meaning than "scary," for instance.<br><br>Another reason is that people make up new words every day... and when people start using the words, they are adopted into the language officially. "Jazzercize" is a big word that some people use that is different in meaning from "Jazz" or "Exercise," and offers a lot of the meaning of both words.<br><br>Sometimes, though not as often as most would think, a small word and a big word have exactly the same meaning, and people use the bigger one to impress or just to sound less redundant.<br><br>Personally, I think that big words add a lot to the language... they offer more freedom to say things the way you want to say them, with layers of meaning. If you don't like that, you might want to look into an idea that a man named George Orwell wrote about in a book called "1984" ... His idea was to cut out all the extra words and simplify the language a lot, because when you limit what people can say, you also (in his mind) limit what they can think. Instead of wasting words on saying thing are bad, why not say ungood? And instead of all the different words for bad or good, just say "double" or "plus" with it... things like that. An interesting idea. I don't really agree with it, but might be something you would enjoy if you don't like big words. :)

Answer 2

The English language has both big and small words to convey a wide range of meanings and nuances. Big words often exist to describe complex concepts or ideas in a more precise way, or to add variety and depth to a language. Language evolves over time, incorporating new words from various sources, leading to the diversity we see today.