It’s a strange term when one stops to think about it: why would we use temperature to describe someone’s sexiness? The folks over at Mental Floss dove into this etymology lesson with some surprising revelations, such as the fact that it’s been a common term for over 700 years, first appearing in the 1300s to reference lust and desire. Canterbury Tales is an early work to use this new definition with the line in the prologue, “Hot he was, and lecherous as a sparrow.” The complete adoption of the word to mean “attractive” took a long gestation time and according to the Oxford English Dictionary became official slang in the 1920s.

Word nerds can get the full rundown AFTER THE JUMP…