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Word Erosion Trivia Quiz

Start with a long word that fits the first definition. Then drop a letter, shuffle, and form another word fitting a new definition. Repeat until the original word has "eroded" to only one letter. Trouble? Work from a shorter word up to a longer one.

A multiple-choice quiz by shorthumbz. Estimated time: 5 mins.

Author
shorthumbz

Time
5 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
361,456

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Easy

Avg Score
8 / 10

Plays
691

Question 1 of 10

1. A person who walks from place to place; also, something that is dull or common.

Answer: (One Word: 10 letters; starts with "p")

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Question 2 of 10

2. The chief executive officer of a political entity, organization, or a meeting.

Answer: (One Word: 9 letters; starts with "p")

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Question 3 of 10

3. To go at full speed for a short distance (past tense).

Answer: (One Word: 8 letters; starts with "s")

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Question 4 of 10

4. A fixed sum paid, sometimes periodically, as an allowance to defray expenses.

Answer: (One word: 7 letters; starts with "s")

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Question 5 of 10

5. The arched upper surface of the human foot.

Answer: (One Word: 6 letters; starts with "i")

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Question 6 of 10

6. Slender pointed protuberances, such as the prongs of a fork.

Answer: (One word: 5 letters; starts with "t")

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Question 7 of 10

7. The place constructed by an animal for its eggs and young; also, to establish a place for the rearing of young, or to fit objects neatly inside of each other.

Answer: (One word: 4 letters; starts with "n")

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Question 8 of 10

8. Nine plus one.

Answer: (Really? You need a hint?)

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Question 9 of 10

9. The postal abbreviation for the US State of Nebraska.

Answer: (No punctuation needed)

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Question 10 of 10

10. The base of natural logarithms; the limit of the expression (1+1/n) to the nth power, as n approaches infinity; an irrational number roughly equivalent to 2.71828...

Answer: ("Higher math stirs up wrath")

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. A person who walks from place to place; also, something that is dull or common.

Answer: pedestrian

Word Origin: from the Latin word "pedes," for "foot."

"New York is the only city in the world where you can get deliberately run down on the sidewalk by a pedestrian." - Russell Baker

2. The chief executive officer of a political entity, organization, or a meeting.

Answer: president

Word Origin: from the Latin word "praesidere," for "to govern or to rule;" often capitalized when referring to a specific person or office.

"When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President. Now I'm beginning to believe it." - Clarence Darrow

3. To go at full speed for a short distance (past tense).

Answer: sprinted

Word Origin: from the Old High German word "sprinzan" for "to jump up."

"Harry: I didn't walk out. Sally: Sprinted is more like it!" - Nora Ephron, "When Harry Met Sally"

4. A fixed sum paid, sometimes periodically, as an allowance to defray expenses.

Answer: stipend

Word Origin: from the Latin words "stips" for "small payment" and "pendere" for "to weigh."

"...and if Virtue is not its own reward, I don't know any other stipend annexed to it." - George Gordon Noel, 6th Baron Byron

5. The arched upper surface of the human foot.

Answer: instep

Word Origin: from 16th century English, "in" + "step"

"He watched the ants moving ... and he put his foot in their path. Then the column climbed over his instep and continued on its way ..." - John Steinbeck, "The Pearl"

6. Slender pointed protuberances, such as the prongs of a fork.

Answer: tines

Word Origin: from the Old Norse word "tindr" for "point, top, or summit"

"Sheldon Cooper: Three tines is not a fork. Three tines is a trident. Forks are for eating, tridents are for ruling the seven seas." - From "The Big Bang Theory"

7. The place constructed by an animal for its eggs and young; also, to establish a place for the rearing of young, or to fit objects neatly inside of each other.

Answer: nest

Word Origin: from the Latin word "nidus" for "nest"

"Sometimes you just gotta be drop-kicked out of the nest." - Robert Downey, Jr.

8. Nine plus one.

Answer: ten

Word Origin: from the Middle English words "ten(e)" or "tenn(e)"

"One and one is two, and two and two is four, and five will get you ten if you know how to work it." - Mae West

9. The postal abbreviation for the US State of Nebraska.

Answer: Ne

Also, the chemical symbol for the element neon or the internet domain abbreviation for Niger.

Fairview, the home of Nebraska politician and orator William Jennings Bryan, was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1963. Its address is
4900 Sumner Street
Lincoln, NE 68501
USA

10. The base of natural logarithms; the limit of the expression (1+1/n) to the nth power, as n approaches infinity; an irrational number roughly equivalent to 2.71828...

Answer: e

The "e" is in honor of Leonhard Euler, who introduced the letter "e" as the base for natural logarithms in 1731, although the mathematical constant itself was probably discovered by Jacob Bernoulli when he was working on a problem involving compound interest in 1687.

There once was a log name of Lynn,
Whose life was devoted to sin.
She came from a tree
With a base shaped like e.
The most natural log that I've seen.
--- from "Mathematical Humor," collected by Andrej and Elena Cherkaev

Source: Author shorthumbz

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Tizzabelle before going online.
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