123 General Knowledge Trivia Questions and Answers
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Easy General Knowledge Trivia Questions
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How many centimeters are in a meter?
100
One meter contains 100 centimeters.
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How many grams are in a kilogram?
1000
One kilogram contains 1,000 grams.
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How many hours does a standard analog clock face display?
12
A standard analog clock face displays 12 hours.
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How many inches are in a foot?
12
One foot contains 12 inches.
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How many ounces equal one pound?
16
A standard pound contains 16 ounces.
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How many days does February have in a common (non-leap) year?
28 days
February has 28 days in a common, non-leap Gregorian year.
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How many days does January have?
31 days
January has 31 days in the Gregorian calendar.
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How many degrees are in a full circle?
360
A full circle measures 360 degrees.
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How many days are in a standard year?
365
A standard non-leap year has 365 days.
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How many feet are in a mile?
5280
A mile is 5,280 feet, or 1,760 yards. The awkward figure comes from England settling the mile at eight furlongs of 660 feet each.
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How many seconds are in one minute?
60
One minute contains 60 seconds.
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How many US pints are in a US gallon?
8
A US gallon holds four quarts, and each quart holds two pints, so eight pints fill a gallon.
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How many degrees are in a right angle?
90
A right angle measures 90 degrees.
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What does “PM” indicate on a clock?
After noon
PM comes from post meridiem and indicates times after noon.
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Why is AMBULANCE written mirror-reversed across the front of the vehicle?
So drivers ahead can read it in the rear-view mirror
The word is printed back to front so that a driver glancing in the rear-view mirror sees it the right way round as the ambulance comes up behind, and knows to pull aside.
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What is the official language of Egypt?
Arabic
Arabic is Egypt's official language.
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What does a fletcher make?
Arrows
A fletcher makes arrows, and the fletching is the set of feathers fixed near the back of the shaft to steady its flight. A maker of bows was a bowyer.
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Which element has atomic number 8?
Oxygen
Oxygen has eight protons, giving it atomic number 8. It makes up about one-fifth of Earth's atmosphere and is essential for aerobic respiration.
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What does a cooper make?
Barrels
A cooper builds and repairs barrels, casks and tubs, shaping curved wooden staves and binding them with metal hoops. The trade is still alive in whisky and wine making, and it gave English the surname Cooper.
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What is the official language of Bangladesh?
Bengali
Bengali is Bangladesh's official language.
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What color are traditional Venetian gondolas?
black
Traditional Venetian gondolas are characteristically painted black.
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What color is the Hope Diamond?
blue
The Hope Diamond is renowned for its deep blue color.
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How many months are in the Gregorian calendar year?
12
The Gregorian calendar divides a year into 12 months.
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What does a chandler make?
Candles
A chandler makes and sells candles, from the French chandelle. A ship's chandler, a later use of the same word, supplies vessels with stores and rope.
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What is the chemical symbol for gold?
Au
Gold's symbol is Au, from the Latin word aurum. Silver uses Ag, while gadolinium and gallium use Gd and Ga.
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What does a steeplejack do?
Climbs tall structures to repair them
A steeplejack works at height on spires, factory chimneys, masts and towers, rigging ladders up the outside so that inspection and repair can be done without scaffolding the whole structure.
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Which of these does a horologist work with?
Clocks and watches
Horology is the measurement of time and the craft of building timepieces, from the Greek hora, meaning hour. A horologist makes, repairs and studies clocks and watches.
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How many cardinal directions are commonly named on a compass?
Four
The four cardinal directions are north, south, east, and west.
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Which element is the primary constituent of both diamond and coal?
Carbon
Diamond and coal are both carbon-based, but their atoms are arranged differently. Diamond's tightly bonded crystal structure gives it exceptional hardness.
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Which reference book lists the meanings of words?
Dictionary
A dictionary lists words with their meanings, and usually their spelling, pronunciation and origins as well. Robert Cawdrey published the first English one in 1604, and Samuel Johnson's of 1755 set the modern pattern.
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What sense do dolphins use when they emit rapid clicks and read what comes back?
Echolocation
Echolocation lets dolphins estimate an object's distance, direction, and shape from reflected sound. It is especially useful when visibility is poor.
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How many items are in a dozen?
12
A dozen is twelve. A baker's dozen is thirteen: medieval bakers threw in an extra loaf because selling bread under weight carried heavy fines, and an honest thirteenth was cheaper than the punishment.
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Which mammal lays eggs and has a broad, duck-like bill?
Platypus
The platypus is a monotreme, one of the few egg-laying mammals. It is native to Australia and also uses electroreception to help find prey underwater.
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What line divides Earth into the Northern and Southern Hemispheres?
Equator
The Equator is the circle of latitude at 0 degrees. It divides Earth into two hemispheres and passes through countries including Ecuador, Kenya, and Indonesia.
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What does ETA stand for?
Estimated time of arrival
ETA is an estimate rather than a promise, which is why the E matters. Its counterpart ETD is the estimated time of departure.
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Which animal is the fastest land runner in short bursts?
Cheetah
A cheetah can reach roughly 75 miles per hour for a short distance. Its flexible spine, light frame, and traction from its claws help it accelerate quickly.
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Which element appears first on the periodic table?
Hydrogen
Hydrogen has atomic number 1, meaning each hydrogen atom has one proton. It is also the most abundant element in the universe.
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What does a glazier do?
Fits glass into windows and doors
A glazier measures, cuts, fits and seals glass in windows, doors and shopfronts. Both senses of the word glaze go back to the same root as glass.
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Which country's flag features a red maple leaf between two red vertical bands?
Canada
Canada adopted its current maple-leaf flag in 1965. The maple leaf had long been used as a symbol of Canada's forests and national identity.
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What is the freezing point of pure water at standard atmospheric pressure?
0 °C
Pure water freezes at 0 degrees Celsius at standard atmospheric pressure. Dissolved substances such as salt lower the freezing point, which is why salt helps melt ice.
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What does FAQ stand for?
Frequently asked questions
The format began on early internet mailing lists, where the same newcomer questions came up so often that regulars compiled standing answers.
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What is the official language of Austria?
German
German is Austria's official language.
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What color is the Statue of Liberty today?
green
The Statue of Liberty's copper exterior developed a green patina over time.
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What does a milliner make?
Hats
A milliner designs, makes and trims hats and headwear, working felt, straw, ribbon and net over a wooden block.
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On a clock, the shorter pointer is usually called what?
Hour hand
The shorter pointer on a traditional clock is the hour hand.
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Hungarian belongs to no family shared with any language on its borders. Which two other European languages are in that family with it?
Finnish and Estonian
All three belong to the Uralic family, whose other branches, such as Sami and Mordvinic, are spoken mostly across Russia and Siberia. Hungarian, Finnish and Estonian are the only Uralic languages with official status in the European Union.
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What instrument records an earthquake’s ground motion over time?
Seismograph
A seismograph records an earthquake’s ground motion over time. The alternatives are real instruments that measure acceleration, ground vibration, or tilt.
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Which month takes its name from the Roman god of doorways and beginnings?
January
January comes from Ianuarius, the month of Janus, who was shown with two faces so he could look forward and back at once. March belongs to Mars, May to Maia and June to Juno.
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What does a cutler make?
Knives and scissors
The trade's name traces to the Latin culter, meaning knife, the same root behind the word cutlery. Sheffield's knife-makers had their own trade guild, the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire, chartered by Act of Parliament in 1624.
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What is the world's largest hot desert?
Sahara Desert
The Sahara spans much of North Africa and is the largest hot desert on Earth. Antarctica is larger overall but is classified as a cold desert.
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What does a tanner turn animal hides into?
Leather
Tanning treats a raw hide with tannins or mineral salts so that it will not rot, and the result is leather. Oak bark was the traditional source of those tannins, and it is where the trade gets its name.
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Which New York Harbor island was called Bedloe's Island until 1956?
Liberty Island
The island takes its old name from Isaac Bedloe, a Dutch colonist who bought it in 1667. Congress renamed it Liberty Island in 1956, seventy years after France's gift, the Statue of Liberty, was dedicated there in 1886.
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What does an ISBN identify?
A specific book edition
An ISBN, the International Standard Book Number, is assigned to one particular edition and format of a book, so the hardback, the paperback and the audiobook of the same title each carry their own. Magazines and journals are numbered under a separate scheme, the ISSN.
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Which common metal is strongly attracted to an ordinary magnet?
Iron
Iron is ferromagnetic and is strongly attracted to magnets.
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Which language is official in the nation whose capital is Kuala Lumpur?
Malay
Malay, known officially as Bahasa Malaysia, is the national and official language of Malaysia. English is widely used in business and the courts, and Mandarin and Tamil are spoken by large communities.
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Which group of mammals is capable of sustained powered flight?
Bats
Bats are the only mammals capable of true sustained powered flight. Flying squirrels, colugos, and sugar gliders glide rather than generate lift with flapping wings.
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What does a map scale show?
Map distance compared with real distance
A map scale relates distances measured on the map to corresponding distances on the ground.
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Which month is named after the Roman god of war?
March
March comes from Martius, the month of Mars, which opened the Roman campaigning season. The same god gives English the word martial.
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Which metal is liquid at 20 degrees Celsius?
Mercury
Mercury remains liquid at 20 degrees Celsius because its melting point is about −39 °C. Gallium and cesium melt only at temperatures just above ordinary room temperature.
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A microwave oven heats food mainly by making what vibrate?
Water molecules in the food
Microwaves flip an electric field billions of times a second, and water molecules, which have a positive end and a negative end, twist back and forth trying to keep up. That friction is the heat, which is why dry or frozen food warms so unevenly.
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Which language is the official language of Brazil?
Portuguese
Brazil is the largest Portuguese-speaking country in the world. Portuguese arrived there during Portugal's colonial period, while most of its neighbors speak Spanish.
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What common raw material is used to make most paper?
Wood pulp
Most paper is made from wood pulp, which comes from processed tree fibers. These fibers can often be recycled several times before becoming too short and weak to make new paper.
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What material makes the writing core of a modern pencil?
Graphite
Pencil cores are made primarily from graphite mixed with clay, not metallic lead.
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What is the official language of Iran?
Persian
Persian is Iran's official language.
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What does PIN stand for, in a bank card PIN?
Personal identification number
Because the N already means number, 'PIN number' says number twice.
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Which planet is famous for its prominent ring system?
Saturn
Saturn's rings are made mostly of ice particles mixed with rock and dust. The other giant planets also have rings, but Saturn's are by far the most visible from Earth.
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What is the official language of Poland?
Polish
Polish is Poland's official language.
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A philatelist collects and studies what?
Postage stamps
Philately is the collecting and study of postage stamps and postal history. The word was coined in 1864 from the Greek philos, loving, and ateleia, exemption from payment: a stamp showed the postage had already been paid, so the person receiving the letter owed nothing.
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How many colors are traditionally named in a rainbow?
7
The traditional named sequence is red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.
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What metal are most single-use drink cans made from?
Aluminium
Drink cans are aluminium, which is why a full one feels so light and a fridge magnet will not stick to it. Aluminium can be melted down and used again indefinitely without losing quality, and a can made from recycled metal takes roughly a twentieth of the energy needed to smelt fresh metal out of bauxite ore.
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What color are London double-decker buses traditionally painted?
red
London's iconic double-decker buses are traditionally associated with red paint.
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What color are traditional British telephone boxes painted?
red
Traditional British telephone kiosks are famously painted red.
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What value does the Roman numeral L represent?
50
The Roman numeral L represents 50. It comes from the Latin numeral system, in which X is 10, C is 100, and D is 500.
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What is the official language of Romania?
Romanian
Romanian is Romania's official language.
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What does a sawyer do?
Saws logs into planks and beams
A sawyer converts felled timber into boards. Before machinery it was done with a long pit saw worked by two men, one standing on the log and one below it in the sawpit.
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A three-point seat belt is designed to spread crash forces across which parts of the body?
The shoulder, chest and pelvis
A three-point belt routes its webbing over the collarbone, diagonally across the chest and low across the hips, so a crash loads the strong bones of the skeleton rather than the soft organs of the abdomen.
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A cobbler repairs what?
Shoes
A cobbler mends footwear. The word originally meant a mender specifically: shoes built new from fresh leather were the work of a cordwainer.
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What is the SI unit of electrical resistance?
Ohm
Electrical resistance is measured in ohms, symbolized by Ω. A volt measures potential difference, a watt measures power, and an ampere measures electric current.
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How many sides does a hexagon have?
6
A hexagon is a six-sided polygon. A regular hexagon has six equal sides and six equal interior angles of 120 degrees.
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What is the smallest prime number?
2
Two is the smallest prime and the only even prime. A prime number has exactly two positive divisors: 1 and itself.
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About how fast does light travel in a vacuum?
300,000 km/s
Light travels at 299,792,458 metres per second in a vacuum, close enough to 300,000 km/s for everyday purposes. That figure is exact by definition: since 1983 the metre has been defined as the distance light covers in 1/299,792,458 of a second, so the speed can no longer be measured wrong, only the metre.
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Which element is the main hardening ingredient in ordinary steel?
Carbon
Carbon atoms fit into gaps in iron's crystal lattice and make it harder to deform. Different steel recipes can also add other elements for properties such as corrosion resistance.
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A thatcher makes a roof out of what?
Straw or reed
Thatching layers bundles of dry water reed, wheat straw or sedge so that rain runs down the stems and drips clear of the wall. A well-laid reed roof lasts decades before it needs replacing.
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What does a sundial use to indicate time?
A shadow
Sundials indicate time by the changing position of a shadow as the Sun moves across the sky.
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In which direction does the Sun rise?
East
Earth turns from west to east, so the Sun appears to climb from the eastern horizon and set in the west. The exact point of sunrise drifts north and south along the horizon through the year, landing due east only at the two equinoxes.
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Which two elements combine to make ordinary table salt?
Sodium and chlorine
Table salt is sodium chloride, or NaCl. Reactive sodium metal and poisonous chlorine gas have very different properties from the stable ionic compound they form together.
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What language holds official status in the country with Bangkok as its capital?
Thai
Thai is the official language of Thailand, whose capital is Bangkok.
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A phobia is more than a strong dislike. What makes it a clinical phobia?
The fear is out of proportion and disrupts everyday life
Almost everyone dislikes something. It becomes a diagnosable phobia when the reaction is far greater than the actual danger and the avoidance interferes with normal living.
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What does an upholsterer work on?
Furniture padding and fabric
The word derives from the Middle English 'upholder,' originally a general trader whose meaning narrowed to furniture repair by the 1600s. London's trade guild for the job, the Worshipful Company of Upholders, dates back to 1360.
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What fills the gap between the two walls of a thermos?
A vacuum
The design was invented by Scottish scientist James Dewar in 1892 to store liquefied gases. With almost no air left in the gap to carry heat by conduction, and the glass silvered to reflect radiant heat back in, drinks stay hot or cold for hours.
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Which day of the week is named after the Norse god of thunder?
Thursday
Thursday was Old English Thunresdaeg, Thor's day. Tuesday belongs to Tiw, Wednesday to Woden and Friday to Frige.
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What does a yield sign require a driver to do?
Give way to traffic already on the road
The inverted triangle shape traces back to 1930s Denmark and became the international standard under the 1968 Vienna Convention on road signs. The first US version appeared in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1950, designed by a police officer, and originally looked like a keystone rather than today's triangle.
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What is a farrier's job?
Trimming horses' hooves and fitting their shoes
A farrier trims and balances the hoof, then shapes the shoe and nails it on, which makes the job part blacksmithing and part hoof care. The name comes from the Latin ferrum, meaning iron.
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What is the official language of Turkey?
Turkish
Turkish is Turkey's official language.
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What does VIP stand for?
Very important person
The term is generally traced to British military use in the Second World War, for passengers whose identity was kept off flight paperwork.
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What does the term watermark refer to on a sheet?
A faint design in the paper
A watermark is a faint design built into the paper, usually visible when the sheet is held up to light. Paper makers create it by varying the paper’s thickness with a design on the forming screen.
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What color are New York City's iconic taxi cabs?
yellow
New York City medallion taxis are traditionally yellow.
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What does a zipper use to hold two strips of fabric together?
Teeth
A zipper closes with two rows of interlocking teeth. The slider forces them together one pair at a time on the way up, and a wedge inside it prises them apart on the way down.
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How much did Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi fetch at Christie's New York in 2017?
$450.3 million
Christie's said the buyer planned to display it at the Louvre Abu Dhabi, but the painting has not been shown publicly since the 2017 sale. It was last reported in 2024 to be sitting in a freeport storage facility in Geneva.
Medium General Knowledge Trivia Questions
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How many pounds are in a stone?
14
A standard stone contains 14 pounds.
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What color is the Eiffel Tower painted?
Brown
The tower wears a brown paint of its own, applied in three shades that grow lighter toward the top so the ironwork reads evenly against the sky. It is repainted every few years to keep rust off the iron.
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Vexillology is the study of what?
Flags
Vexillology covers the design, history and symbolism of flags, including the conventions for proportions and colours. The name comes from the Latin vexillum, the square banner carried by Roman cavalry, and was coined by the American scholar Whitney Smith in 1957.
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Which phobia is the fear of public speaking?
Glossophobia
From the Greek glossa, meaning tongue. Surveys regularly find it reported more often than the fear of death.
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Indonesian, the official language of Indonesia, is a standardised form of which language?
Malay
Indonesian was built from the Malay trading language used across the archipelago's ports. It was adopted over Javanese, the most widely spoken mother tongue in the country, because it belonged to no single ethnic group.
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Two months of the year are named after real people rather than gods. Which two?
July and August
Quintilis was renamed July for Julius Caesar and Sextilis was renamed August for the emperor Augustus. The other months take their names from Roman gods, from festivals, or simply from their old position in the calendar.
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What is the official language of Cambodia?
Khmer
Khmer is Cambodia's official language.
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A magnifying glass held close to an object forms what kind of image?
A magnified virtual image
When the object sits closer to a convex lens than its focal point, the lens forms an upright image larger than the object. It is a virtual image: the light rays only appear to come from it, which is why it cannot be caught on a screen the way a projector's image can.
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The International Council of Museums defines a museum as a permanent institution in the service of society that is also what?
Not-for-profit
The International Council of Museums defines a museum as a permanent, not-for-profit institution in the service of society, which researches, collects, conserves, interprets and exhibits heritage. The not-for-profit requirement is about where the money goes rather than where it comes from: a museum can charge admission and still qualify, as long as the takings go back into the institution.
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Which English day of the week is named after a Roman god rather than a Norse one?
Saturday
Saturday is Saturn's day, taken straight from the Latin dies Saturni. It is the only English weekday name kept from Roman religion instead of being replaced by a Germanic god.
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Which tiny animals are also known as water bears and can survive vacuum and extreme radiation?
Tardigrades
Tardigrades can enter cryptobiosis, a dormant state in which their metabolism nearly stops. In that state they tolerate conditions that would quickly kill most animals.
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Which sea separates the Arabian Peninsula from northeastern Africa?
The Red Sea
The sea occupies a rift where the Arabian and African plates are slowly pulling apart, and since no permanent rivers feed it, its water ranks among the saltiest and warmest in the world. Its name may come from seasonal blooms of a reddish cyanobacteria that dies off and tints the surface brown.
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SOS is often said to stand for 'Save Our Souls'. Why were those letters really chosen?
They are simple and unmistakable in Morse code
Three dots, three dashes, three dots is easy to send and hard to mistake for anything else. The expansions were invented afterwards.
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Which moon is the largest satellite of Saturn?
Titan
Titan is Saturn's largest moon and the only moon in the Solar System with a thick atmosphere, made mostly of nitrogen.
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Which set lists the traditional ingredients of gunpowder?
Saltpeter, charcoal, and sulfur
Traditional gunpowder combines an oxidizer, saltpeter, with charcoal as fuel and sulfur to help the mixture ignite. The proportions determine how it burns.
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What does a wainwright build?
Wagons
A wain is a wagon, so a wainwright builds and repairs them. The old word survives in Charles's Wain, a traditional British name for the seven stars of the Plough.
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What is the largest lottery jackpot ever won by a single ticket, a Powerball prize claimed in California in November 2022?
$2.04 billion
The winner chose a lump-sum payout of about $997.6 million rather than the annuity option. It remains the largest lottery prize ever claimed worldwide, ahead of an October 2023 Powerball jackpot and a January 2016 jackpot that was split three ways.
Hard General Knowledge Trivia Questions
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Which country's flag has a rising golden sun above a black, blue, and white V-shaped design?
Antigua and Barbuda
Antigua and Barbuda's flag features a rising golden sun over a V-shaped design.
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The 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas divided overseas territories between which two powers?
Castile and Portugal
The treaty split newly encountered lands outside Europe between the Crown of Castile and Portugal along a meridian west of the Cape Verde islands.
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What name is given to Justinian I's sixth-century compilation of Roman law?
Corpus Juris Civilis
Corpus Juris Civilis is the name later given to the collection of Roman law commissioned by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, and it became the foundation of civil law across much of Europe.
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Which 20th-century composer is credited with developing the prepared piano?
John Cage
John Cage began placing screws, bolts and rubber between the strings of a piano in 1940, turning the instrument into something closer to a percussion ensemble.
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Which ancient writing system was deciphered in the 1950s by Michael Ventris?
Linear B
Michael Ventris, an architect by training, showed in 1952 that Linear B recorded an early form of Greek. The related Linear A is still undeciphered.
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Whose name is given to the maximum mass a white dwarf can have?
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
The Chandrasekhar limit, about 1.4 times the mass of the Sun, is the heaviest a white dwarf can be before it collapses. Arthur Eddington publicly ridiculed the idea when Chandrasekhar first presented it.
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Which historical pigment was traditionally made from ground lapis lazuli?
Ultramarine
Natural ultramarine was made by grinding and purifying lapis lazuli, a blue stone imported into Europe from Asia, which made it one of the most expensive pigments a painter could buy.
Related lists
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Answered in full
These come up often enough that each one has its own page.
- How many items are in a dozen?
- Which country's flag features a red maple leaf between two red vertical bands?
- Indonesian, the official language of Indonesia, is a standardised form of which language?
- Which language is the official language of Brazil?
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