Seven days of questions and answers

Valentine's Day Trivia Answers Archive

Review earlier daily rounds, reveal the correct answer, and use the short explanation to learn the fact behind each question. Page 9 of 12 covers seven completed UTC days.

Play today's quiz

Daily round

  1. What name was given to insulting or mocking nineteenth-century Valentine's cards?

    Answer: Vinegar valentines

    Vinegar valentines used caricatures and sharp verses instead of affectionate messages.

  2. What does the French phrase “je t'aime” mean in English?

    Answer: I love you

    Je t'aime is the standard French expression meaning I love you.

  3. What ingredient distinguishes milk chocolate from plain dark chocolate?

    Answer: Milk solids

    Milk chocolate includes milk powder or other milk solids in addition to cocoa and sugar.

  4. Which ingredient becomes caramel when heated until it browns?

    Answer: Sugar

    Caramelization occurs when sugar is heated and develops brown color and complex flavors.

  5. What is the final two-line unit of a Shakespearean sonnet called?

    Answer: Couplet

    A rhyming couplet closes the standard Shakespearean sonnet.

Daily round

  1. How many days does February have in a common year?

    Answer: 28

    February has twenty-eight days unless the year is a leap year.

  2. Which title is traditionally attached to the saint commemorated on Valentine's Day?

    Answer: Saint Valentine

    The holiday's name comes from Saint Valentine, though traditions combine stories about more than one martyr.

  3. Which battle led to Charles, Duke of Orléans, being held in England?

    Answer: Battle of Agincourt

    English forces captured Charles at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.

  4. Which writer linked Saint Valentine's Day with birds choosing mates in “Parliament of Fowls”?

    Answer: Geoffrey Chaucer

    Geoffrey Chaucer's medieval poem Parliament of Fowls made an influential literary connection between the saint's day and courtship.

  5. Which birds perform a courtship display in which the pair forms a heartlike silhouette with their necks?

    Answer: Swans

    Courting swans may face one another with curved necks that resemble a heart shape.

Daily round

  1. Which German phrase means “I love you”?

    Answer: Ich liebe dich

    Ich liebe dich directly expresses “I love you” in German.

  2. Which type of chocolate contains cocoa butter but no cocoa solids?

    Answer: White chocolate

    White chocolate uses cocoa butter without the nonfat cocoa solids found in brown chocolate.

  3. Chocolate is made from seeds of which tree?

    Answer: Cacao

    Chocolate begins with fermented and roasted seeds of the cacao tree.

  4. What does an electrocardiogram record?

    Answer: Electrical activity of the heart

    An electrocardiogram traces electrical signals produced during each heartbeat.

  5. Where was Charles, Duke of Orléans, imprisoned when he wrote an early valentine poem?

    Answer: Tower of London

    Charles wrote the poem while held in the Tower of London after capture at Agincourt.

Daily round

  1. Which marine mammal often holds paws with a partner while floating?

    Answer: Sea otter

    Sea otters may hold paws while resting in rafts, which helps them remain together.

  2. Which Greek hero waited for Penelope during a twenty-year absence?

    Answer: Odysseus

    Penelope remains in Ithaca while Odysseus fights at Troy and struggles home.

  3. Which Italian word means love?

    Answer: Amore

    Amore is the Italian noun for love.

  4. Which Greek word names affectionate love between friends?

    Answer: Philia

    Philia refers to friendship, fondness, and bonds between companions.

  5. Which structure acts as the heart's natural pacemaker?

    Answer: Sinoatrial node

    The sinoatrial node generates electrical impulses that normally set the heartbeat.

Daily round

  1. Which organ is represented by the familiar heart symbol?

    Answer: Heart

    The stylized heart symbol represents the anatomical organ associated culturally with love.

  2. Which confection gets its airy texture from whipped egg whites and sugar?

    Answer: Meringue

    Meringue traps air in beaten egg whites stabilized with dissolved sugar.

  3. Which bird is commonly used as a symbol of peace and devoted pairing?

    Answer: Dove

    Doves appear in art and ceremonies as symbols of peace, affection, and partnership.

  4. What are the sharp outgrowths on a rose stem correctly called?

    Answer: Prickles

    Rose stems bear prickles arising from surface tissue, not true thorns formed from branches.

  5. Which famous sculpture shows Venus standing on a shell?

    Answer: The Birth of Venus

    Sandro Botticelli's The Birth of Venus depicts the goddess arriving on a large shell.

Daily round

  1. Which mythical sculptor falls in love with a statue he created?

    Answer: Pygmalion

    In classical myth, Pygmalion loves an ivory statue that is brought to life.

  2. In Finland, Valentine's Day is commonly known as a day celebrating what relationship?

    Answer: Friendship

    Finland's ystävänpäivä is commonly understood as Friend's Day and emphasizes friendship.

  3. Which ancient Roman festival is often mentioned in discussions of February customs, though its direct link to Valentine's Day is disputed?

    Answer: Lupercalia

    Lupercalia occurred in mid-February, but historians do not accept a simple, proven line from it to modern Valentine's Day.

  4. To which family does Juliet belong in Shakespeare's play?

    Answer: Capulet

    Juliet is the daughter of Lord and Lady Capulet.

  5. In Arthurian legend, Guinevere is queen to which king?

    Answer: Arthur

    Guinevere is traditionally portrayed as the wife and queen of King Arthur.

Daily round

  1. Whom does Orpheus attempt to rescue from the underworld?

    Answer: Eurydice

    Orpheus journeys to the underworld hoping to return his wife Eurydice to life.

  2. Which museum holds the oldest known printed Valentine's card?

    Answer: British Museum

    The British Museum preserves an early printed Valentine's card dating from the eighteenth century.

  3. Which flower's name comes from the Greek word for rainbow?

    Answer: Iris

    Iris is named for the Greek rainbow goddess, reflecting the flower's many colors.

  4. What innovation made decorated greeting cards easier to mass-produce in the nineteenth century?

    Answer: Mechanical printing

    Advances in mechanical printing enabled publishers to make large runs of illustrated cards.

  5. Which branch of psychology studies how people think about and relate to one another?

    Answer: Social psychology

    Social psychology examines thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in social contexts.