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The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions.
A city of southern Uzbekistan southwest of Tashkent. Dating from the seventh century BC, the city was conquered by Alexander the Great in 329, taken by the Arabs in the eighth century AD, and destroyed by Genghis Khan c. 1220. It was rebuilt as a fabled center of great splendor and opulence when it became (c. 1370) the capital of Tamerlane's empire.
Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:
The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.