How Words Change Their Meaning

A mouse can run across a kitchen floor. It can also sit beside a computer. We usually know which meaning is right. Words can get new meanings, and people may use their old meanings less often.

Sometimes a word comes to mean fewer things. Long ago,"meat" meant food in general. Today, rice is food, but we do not call it meat.

"Deer," the name of a wild animal with long legs, changed in a similar way. Long ago, this word could mean animals in general. Now it means only one group of animals. Nobody made an official rule. These meanings changed as people used the words over many years.

Words can also get new meanings. The computer mouse got its name because it looked like the animal. It had a small body and a wire like a tail. Some computer mice now have no wire, but they still have the same name.

Other words in a sentence help us understand. In "The mouse needs a new battery," the word "battery" shows that we mean a computer mouse.

When learning words, look at the words around them and how people use them today. A word can have more than one meaning.