How do new words get into the dictionary? If you're a log, a foul or a lover of words, you probably already know the process for us common folk. You might not have a clue how the dictionary stays up to date. Well, new words are added every year, and it's a process. For starters, getting new words in the dictionary is the job of the lexicographers. Reader's Digest states that they read across various disciplines, scouting for words on the main word that gets other words in the dictionary is usage. According to Marry a Webster. Words have to first be used and understood in society, and they carefully monitor which words people use most often and how they used them. Words. Air added definitions air changed, and sometimes dictionaries get over 1000 new words per year. And Cova, 19, is already impacting our dictionaries, with Miriam Webster making new additions like W F. H for working from home or self isolate contact lists and PPE for personal protective equipment. I think we can all agree we've all heard or said those words hundreds of times in all dictionary dot com says. Your new clever word won't make it to the dictionary unless it's adopted and huge by other people. But once you hear a term over and over again, look out for it to appear in your latest dictionary edition.
Oxford English Dictionary couldn't pick just one 'word of the year' for 2020
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Updated: 11:22 AM CST Nov 23, 2020
Related video above: How words are added to the dictionaryThe Oxford English Dictionary has been unable to name its traditional word of the year for 2020, instead exploring how far and how quickly the language has developed this year."It quickly became apparent that 2020 is not a year that could neatly be accommodated in one single 'word of the year,'" the OED said, with the language adapting "rapidly and repeatedly."The report, titled "Words of an Unprecedented Year," uses an adjective that has itself seen a big spike in use during 2020."Though what was genuinely unprecedented this year was the hyper-speed at which the English-speaking world amassed a new collective vocabulary relating to the coronavirus, and how quickly it became, in many instances, a core part of the language," the report reads.It moves through the year, detailing the most important words in certain months, based on spikes in use, from "bushfire" in January, when Australia suffered its worst fire season on record, to "acquittal" in February, when U.S. President Donald Trump's impeachment trial ended.From March onward, terms related to the coronavirus pandemic start to dominate, including "COVID-19," a completely new word, first recorded on Feb. 11; "lockdown," "social distancing" and "reopening."Related video: Collins Dictionary names ‘lockdown’ its word of the year for 2020In June, use of the phrase "Black Lives Matter" exploded, followed by "cancel culture" and "BIPOC," an abbreviation of "Black, indigenous and other people of color.""Mail-in" and "Belarusian" were both flagged as words of the month for August, referring to mail-in voting for the U.S. election and the controversial reelection of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, respectively."Moonshot," the name the UK government gave to its mass coronavirus testing program, appears in September, while "net zero" and "superspreader" are highlighted in October.Net zero refers to Chinese President Xi Jinping's pledge that the country will be carbon neutral by 2060, and superspreader, a word that dates to the 1970s, according to the OED, saw a spike in use after a cluster of COVID-19 cases at the White House.The OED named "climate emergency" as word of the year in 2019, and "toxic" in 2018.
Related video above: How words are added to the dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary has been unable to name its traditional word of the year for 2020, instead exploring how far and how quickly the language has developed this year.
"It quickly became apparent that 2020 is not a year that could neatly be accommodated in one single 'word of the year,'" the OED said, with the language adapting "rapidly and repeatedly."
The report, titled "Words of an Unprecedented Year," uses an adjective that has itself seen a big spike in use during 2020.
"Though what was genuinely unprecedented this year was the hyper-speed at which the English-speaking world amassed a new collective vocabulary relating to the coronavirus, and how quickly it became, in many instances, a core part of the language," the report reads.
It moves through the year, detailing the most important words in certain months, based on spikes in use, from "bushfire" in January, when Australia suffered its worst fire season on record, to "acquittal" in February, when U.S. President Donald Trump's impeachment trial ended.
From March onward, terms related to the coronavirus pandemic start to dominate, including "COVID-19," a completely new word, first recorded on Feb. 11; "lockdown," "social distancing" and "reopening."
Related video: Collins Dictionary names ‘lockdown’ its word of the year for 2020
In June, use of the phrase "Black Lives Matter" exploded, followed by "cancel culture" and "BIPOC," an abbreviation of "Black, indigenous and other people of color."
"Mail-in" and "Belarusian" were both flagged as words of the month for August, referring to mail-in voting for the U.S. election and the controversial reelection of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, respectively.
"Moonshot," the name the UK government gave to its mass coronavirus testing program, appears in September, while "net zero" and "superspreader" are highlighted in October.
Net zero refers to Chinese President Xi Jinping's pledge that the country will be carbon neutral by 2060, and superspreader, a word that dates to the 1970s, according to the OED, saw a spike in use after a cluster of COVID-19 cases at the White House.
The OED named "climate emergency" as word of the year in 2019, and "toxic" in 2018.
