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'Brat' Has Had Quite a Year. It Just Got Better

It's Collins Dictionary's word of the year

(Newser) - "Characterized by a confident, independent, and hedonistic attitude." That's one of the definitions of "brat" in the Collins Dictionary—a word that serves as both the title of UK singer Charli XCX's sixth studio album and, now, as Collins' word of the year, reports the...

Dictionary's New 2024 Entries Include Chef's Kiss, the Ick

Cambridge Dictionary has also added 'face journey'

(Newser) - This year is 208 days old and the Cambridge Dictionary has already added more than 3,200 new terms and phrases—including "the ick" and "boop." "The ick" has become a common term after its use in the reality show Love Island, but its usage goes...

'Major Win' in Fight Against Dictionary-Yanking School District

Federal judge allows lawsuit against Florida's Escambia County School District to proceed

(Newser) - A Florida school district is keeping students from accessing dictionaries which, in defining sex and other concepts, are considered to violate the state law prohibiting materials in schools that depict or describe sexual conduct, per the Messenger . Escambia County School District has pulled more than 1,600 books from school...

Another Word of the Year Has Been Chosen
Oxford Picks Its
Word of the Year
Dec 4, 2023 1:00 AM CST

Oxford Picks Its Word of the Year

'Rizz'

(Newser) - Another word of the year has been chosen, and, bucking the trend for 2023, this one has nothing to do with artificial intelligence. Oxford University Press chose "rizz," which, as the BBC reports, is slang that the youngsters these days use to mean charm, style, or romantic appeal,...

This Is Collins Dictionary's Word of the Year

'AI,' or, you know, 'artificial intelligence,' 'has been much talked about in 2023,' per UK publisher

(Newser) - The "best of 2023" lists are starting to be compiled, and Collins Dictionary lexicographers have already announced their pick for word of the year. It's "AI," the initialism for "artificial intelligence," reports CNN , which notes the term means "the modeling of human mental...

You'll Never Believe How Long It Took to Finish This Dictionary

Swedish Academy Dictionary took 140 years to complete, with nearly 140 staffers working on it

(Newser) - The Swedish Academy is kept pretty busy at managing its annual Nobel Prize roster, but the group is also tasked with completing the Swedish Academy Dictionary (SAOB) , a 39-volume, 33,000-page resource that the Guardian calls "the Swedish equivalent of the Oxford English Dictionary." But while the Nobels...

A Nepo Baby Took a Coffee Nap After Eating a Shower Orange

No idea what that means? You need to brush up on this year's new entries to Dictionary.com

(Newser) - You've surely heard of "sextortion," but "paraprosdokian" may have you scratching your head. Luckily, both words now have full-fledged entries at Dictionary.com , which is out with its annual list of additions and updates. There are nearly 570 completely new entries, as well as almost 350...

First Words Revealed in African American Dictionary

Entries include 'bussin' and 'grill'

(Newser) - A new dictionary is in the works, one that focuses solely on words with African American origins. The Oxford Dictionary of African American English—a collaboration between Harvard University and Oxford University Press, per NPR —plans to publish its first 1,000 words in 2025. However, the New York ...

This Is What 'Pele' Now Means, per a Brazilian Dictionary

Entry meaning 'unique' in Portuguese-language reference pays tribute to Brazilian soccer great

(Newser) - Fans of Pele have been missing him since he died in December at the age of 82, but they've just found one sweetly permanent way to honor him. NPR notes that since his death, a Brazilian charity dedicated to promoting his legacy has been vying to have a term...

Merriam-Webster Sees Elon Musk's Twitter Blue, Taunts With Red

Dictionary cheekily discontinues its M-W Red within hours

(Newser) - Merriam-Webster likes to get cheeky every once in a while, and Elon Musk and his Twitter Blue are the latest target. As Insider reports, the dictionary powerhouse used Musk's own forum to mock Twitter Blue, in a tweet that's currently clocking north of 4 million: "People who...

Cambridge Dictionary Adds New Definition for 'Woman'
Tuesday Was a Big Day
for a 'Common Word'
UPDATED
Dec 14, 2022 10:10 AM CST

Tuesday Was a Big Day for a 'Common Word'

'Woman' made headlines

(Newser) - Tuesday was a big day for the word "woman." In addition to a slew of headlines about a recent change the Cambridge Dictionary made to the word, another dictionary appointed it the word of 2022. Dictionary.com announced that "woman" was its word of the year, noting...

Merriam-Webster Chooses Its Word of the Year
Merriam-Webster
Chooses Its
Word of the Year
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Dec 3, 2022 4:45 PM CST

Merriam-Webster Chooses Its Word of the Year

It's 'gaslighting'

(Newser) - “Gaslighting”—mind manipulating, grossly misleading, downright deceitful—is Merriam-Webster's word of the year, the AP reports. Lookups for the word on merriam-webster.com increased 1,740% in 2022 over the year before. But something else happened. There wasn't a single event that drove significant spikes in...

Dictionary's Word of the Year Angered Wordle Players

British players weren't familiar with 'homer'

(Newser) - The Cambridge Dictionary's word of the year is one that infuriated British players of Wordle who knew it only as the name of an ancient Greek poet—or Bart Simpson's dad. The dictionary says "homer" saw the biggest search spike of the year, with some 79,000...

Man Pleads Guilty to Threatening Merriam-Webster

Jeremy Hanson was reportedly upset by changes involving gender identity

(Newser) - Update: A California man has pleaded guilty to sending repeated death threats to Merriam-Webster in October of last year because he was upset with its definitions on gender identity. His actions caused the company to shut down its offices for five days. The US Attorney’s Office for the District...

'Adorkable' Merriam-Webster 'Levels Up'

Dictionary adds 370 new words, including 'cringe' and 'dumbphone'

(Newser) - As you update your vocabulary, so does Merriam-Webster. The dictionary has added 370 new words and terms to its pages, noting that "when many people use a word in the same way, over a long enough period of time, that word becomes eligible for inclusion." There are several...

Dictionary.com's Word of the Year Isn't About COVID

Site goes with 'allyship'

(Newser) - Allyship, an old noun made new again, is Dictionary.com's word of the year. The lookup site with 70 million monthly users took the unusual step of anointing a word it added just last month, though “allyship” first surfaced in the mid-1800s, said Associate Director of Content &...

This Is Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year

'Vaccine' wins out for 2021

(Newser) - With an expanded definition to reflect the times, Merriam-Webster has declared an omnipresent truth as its 2021 word of the year: vaccine. “This was a word that was extremely high in our data every single day in 2021,” Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster's editor-at-large, told the AP ahead of...

Usage of Collins' Word of the Year Jumped 11,000%

Dictionary chooses 'NFT' over 'metaverse'

(Newser) - We've moved on from "lockdown" to the year of the "NFT." Use of the abbreviation for "nonfungible token" jumped more than 11,000% this year, propelling it to the title of Collins Dictionary's word of the year, per the BBC . NFT—defined by Collins...

Oxford English Dictionary Adds 26 Korean Words

They include a term for the world's growing interest in South Korean culture

(Newser) - The Korean wave has swept over the Oxford English Dictionary, which included more than two dozen new entries for words of Korean origin in its latest edition. The dictionary, which describes itself as the "definitive record of the English language," says the growing global popularity of Korean culture...

Dictionary.com Catches Up on Hot Topics, and Also 'Yeet'

A changing world requires new terms and definitions, editor says

(Newser) - More than 300 words and updated definitions have been added to Dictionary.com, in an effort to stay current with surging issues and slang that may or may not stay around long. New terms related to COVID-19, terrorism, racial justice, and technology now are listed; earlier dictionaries had no need...

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