10 Weird Histories Behind English Words

English is notoriously difficult to learn. First, there are a lot of weird idioms like don't cry over spilled milk, look inside a gift horse's mouth, or have a ball in your face. Second, it's shocking, surprising, awe-inspiring, and disturbing that we have so many synonyms.

Many of these problems stem from the fact that English is based on a combination of different languages. Sometimes it's easy to see similarities between an English word and its language of origin. Otherwise, this can be a little difficult.

The following 10 English words have surprising etymologies that may surprise you.