Merriam-Webster has noted that there's an increase in online searches for certain words at the start of the school year, and they've put together a list of "Top 10 Big Words on Campus". Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster editor at large who was recognized as one of TIME’s Best Twitter Feed’s of 2013, reviews the list of most searched-for terms by college students on Merriam-Webster's site.

Students: what was the last word that you looked up? Professors: which words do you commonly assign? Do they mostly learn toward cultural literacy? Are the words on this list typical? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.

"Top 10 Big Words on Campus" 

1. Culture

2. Irony

3. Metaphor

4. Rhetoric

5. Allegory

6. Heuristic

7. Aesthetic

8. Diversity

9. Plagiarize

10. Pedagogy