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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 country of west-central Africa including islands in the Gulf of Guinea. Originally inhabited by Pygmy and Bantu peoples, it was settled by the Portuguese after 1472. Portugal ceded the largest island (Bioko) to Spain in 1778, and the mainland territory (Río Muni) came under Spanish rule in 1885. This colony, known as Spanish Guinea, gained independence in 1968. Malabo is the capital and the largest city.
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.