The Ups and Downs of Trivia Quiz / Test | Drop a Letter

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The first word of 8 letters is a type of sentence that requires the use of an interrogation mark... and is quite useful for FunTrivia quizzes.

Answer: Question

The Latin root of question is 'quaestionem,' which means seeking, inquiry, examining, or investigation. It is related to the Latin term 'quaerere,' from which we also get the word 'query', meaning to ask or seek.

2. Drop a letter and rearrange the rest to make a word that describes an official process to discover the cause of someone's death.

Answer: Inquest

Inquest is related to the 'question' from the previous... question. In this case it implies a more in-depth search or seeking after, especially as part of a legal or judicial inquiry, or before a jury.

3. Drop another letter and rearrange the rest to make a word that means to peer through partly closed eyes.

Answer: Squint

The origins of the word 'squint' are not clear (ironically), but in the 13th century, the word 'asquint' was being used, meaning obliquely, or with a sidelong glance. The shortened version 'squint' did not appear in English until the late 1500s, and had pretty much the same meaning: looking different ways; looking obliquely.

4. Lose another letter and rearrange the rest to make a word that is what you 'call it' when you stop doing something, or give up.

Answer: Quits

'Quits' or 'quit' has its origins in the Latin word 'quietus,' which translates as 'free,' as in free from debts, or free from war. I like how the Old French 'quitte' also includes the idea of being unmarried, in addition to being free and clear, or at liberty.

5. Again, drop a letter to make one of the four divisions of a deck of playing cards.

Answer: Suit

Used since the 13th century in English, 'suit' in the sense of a suit within a deck of cards refers to being of the same kind or sort; matching. It grew out of the Latin term 'sequi,' meaning 'to attend, follow.'

6. Drop yet another letter and make a word that describes what you usually do on a chair.

Answer: Sit

To rest on your posterior, or 'sit,' was once a longer word in English. Middle English used 'sitten,' while in Old English it was 'sittan.' And, of course, sitting can involve more than just planting your bottom somewhere, as it can also mean resting in place, lying in wait (like an ambush), settling, or choosing an encampment.

7. Lose a letter once again to make an acronym for the complete metric system of units of measurement for scientists.

Answer: SI

'SI' stands for Syst�me International, which is the modern form of the 'metric system,' most widely used around the globe. It is maintained by the General Conference on Weights and Measures, and is the standard for most countries, used in science, technology, commerce, and industry.

8. Drop one last letter to leave yourself with the letter used as the symbol for entropy in thermochemistry.

Answer: S

Entropy is a mathematically defined property in thermodynamics, representing the unavailability of thermal energy for conversion into mechanical work.

The second law of thermodynamics says that entropy always increases with time. And this change, when calculated and defined, is represented by the symbols ΔS (S for entropy, and Δ for the rate of change).

9. Now add a letter to give the symbol for the element einsteinium.

Answer: Es

Einsteinium (Es) is a synthetic element that has the atomic number 99. It was discovered in 1952 in the debris from the first hydrogen bomb, and was named after Albert Einstein.

10. Add another letter for the Latin (and medical) term for the foot, or a footlike appendage.

Answer: Pes

The Latin term 'pes' is used as an anatomical reference for the foot, and is also used in the same manner zoologically with regard to animals.

11. Add another letter and rearrange them to make a word that encompasses multiple sets in your weightlifting routine.

Answer: Reps

'Reps' is simply the abbreviated form of the term 'repetitions,' which is what you are doing in your weight routine when you do the same set of weights over again. How many reps you do is up to you and your goals, of course.

12. Add yet another letter and rearrange them to name a machine that prints books or newspapers.

Answer: Press

The Latin term 'pressus,' coming from 'premere (to press, hold fast, cover, crowd, compress), is the root of the word 'press' and the underlying meaning of how it is used as machine for printing books or newspapers.

The term 'press' being synonymous with printing and with journalism first came into our language in the mid-16th century.

13. Now add a letter and rearrange them to describe the reproductive cells of fungi.

Answer: Spores

The term 'spore' comes from the Latin 'spora,' meaning 'a seed, a sowing, seed-time,' and also related to 'sporas,' meaning 'scattered, dispersed.' And early on in 1836, defined as a reproductive body in flowerless plants that corresponds to the seeds in flowering plants.

14. Add the quiz's penultimate letter and rearrange to make an archaic term for multiple individuals, still used in legal documents.

Answer: Persons

Usually, 'people' is the correct term when making the plural for 'person,' but sometimes it is necessary to refer to individuals within a group, or rather, NOT referring to a generic mass of people.

Examples: 'persons of interest,' or 'missing persons.'

15. Finally, add one last letter and rearrange them to describe your reaction to a query or to an emotional experience.

Answer: Response

From the Latin 're' (back) and 'spondere' (to pledge) comes the word 'response' or 'respond,' meaning to answer to or to promise in return.

I hope that you were able to come up with the correct responses to the (sort of) questions in this quiz.

Source: Author reedy

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor spanishliz before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

The Ups and Downs of Trivia Trivia Quiz

Start with an eight-letter word (a noun). The next word will be one letter less and may need to be unscrambled. After you get down to one letter, I'll begin to add letters to make a new word. Have fun!

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