A
neologism ; from
GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
νές (
neo 'new' +
logos 'word') is a newly coined word that may be in the process of entering common use, but has not yet been accepted into mainstream language. Neologisms are often directly attributable to a specific person, publication, period, or event. According to
Oxford English DictionaryThe Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press , is a comprehensive dictionary of the English language...
the term
neologism was first used in print in 1772.
Other uses
In
psychiatryPsychiatry is a medical specialty officially devoted to the treatment and study of mental disorders. The term was first coined by the German physician Johann Christian Reil in 1808....
, the term
neologism is used to describe the use of words that only have meaning to the person who uses them, independent of their common meaning. This is considered normal in children, but a symptom of
thought disorderIn psychiatry, thought disorder or formal thought disorder is a term used to describe a pattern of disordered language use that is presumed to reflect disordered thinking...
(indicative of a
psychoticPsychosis literally means abnormal condition of the mind, and is a generic psychiatric term for a mental state often described as involving a "loss of contact with reality"...
mental illnessA mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern that occurs in an individual and is thought to cause distress or disability that is not expected as part of normal development or culture. The recognition and understanding of mental disorders has changed over time and...
, such as
schizophreniaSchizophrenia , from the Greek roots skhizein and phrēn, phren- is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a mental disorder characterized by abnormalities in the perception or expression of reality...
) in adults.
People with
autismAutism is a disorder of neural development that is characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. These signs all begin before a child is three years old. Autism involves many parts of the brain; how this occurs is not well understood...
also may create neologisms.
Use of neologisms may also be related to
aphasiaAphasia is an acquired condition in which there is an impairment of any language modality. This may include difficulty in producing or comprehending spoken or written language....
acquired after
brain damageBrain damage, or acquired brain injury, is the destruction or degeneration of brain cells.-Causes:Brain damage may occur due to a wide range of conditions, illnesses, injuries, and as a result of iatrogenesis...
resulting from a
strokeA stroke is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by thrombosis or embolism or due to a hemorrhage...
or
head injuryTraumatic brain injury occurs when an outside force traumatically injures the brain. TBI can be classified based on severity, mechanism , or other features...
.
In
theologyThe term "theology" literally means the study of God, deriving from the Greek word theos, meaning 'God', and the suffix -ology from the Greek word logos meaning "discourse", "theory", or "reasoning"...
, a neologism is a relatively new doctrine (for example,
rationalismIn epistemology and in its modern sense, rationalism is "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification" . In more technical terms it is a method or a theory "in which the criterion of the truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive"...
). In this sense, a neologist is one who proposes either a new doctrine or a new interpretation of source material such as religious texts.
Background
Neologisms tend to occur more often in cultures that are changing rapidly and also in situations where there is easy and fast propagation of information. The new terms are often created by combining existing words (see compound noun and adjective) or by giving words new and unique
suffixIn grammar, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...
es or prefixes.
PortmanteauA portmanteau or portmanteau word is used broadly to mean a blend of two words and their meanings into one, and narrowly in linguistics fields to mean only a blend of two or more function words.-Meaning:...
x are combined words that begin to be used commonly. Neologisms also can be created through
abbreviationAn abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase. Usually, but not always, it consists of a letter or group of letters taken from the word or phrase...
or acronym, by intentionally
rhymingA rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds in two or more words and is most often used in poetry and songs. The word "rhyme" may also refer to a short poem, such as a rhyming couplet or other brief rhyming poem such as nursery rhymes.-Etymology:...
with existing words or simply through playing with sounds.
Neologisms often become popular through
memeticsMemetics is a term coined by Douglas Hofstadter in the 1980s, relating to the notion of meme, introduced by Richard Dawkins, as genetics relates to that of gene....
, by way of
mass mediaMass media denotes a section of the media specifically designed to reach a very large audience such as the population of a nation state. The term was coined in the 1920s with the advent of nationwide radio networks, mass-circulation newspapers and magazines. However, some forms of mass media such...
, the
InternetThe Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standardized Internet Protocol Suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, and
word of mouthWord of mouth is a reference to the passing of information from person to person. Originally the term referred specifically to oral communication , but now includes any type of human communication, such as face to face, telephone, email, and text messaging.-History of word of mouth marketing:One of...
, including academic discourse in many fields renowned for their use of distinctive jargon. Every word in a language was, at some time, a neologism, ceasing to be such through time and acceptance.
Neologisms often become accepted parts of the language. Other times, however, they disappear from common use just as readily as they appeared. Whether a neologism continues as part of the language depends on many factors, probably the most important of which is acceptance by the public. Acceptance by linguistic
expertAn expert is someone widely recognized as a reliable source of technique or skill whose faculty for judging or deciding rightly, justly, or wisely is accorded authority and status by their peers or the public in a specific well-distinguished domain...
s and incorporation into dictionaries also plays a part, as does whether the phenomenon described by a neologism remains current, thus continuing to need a descriptor. It is unusual, however, for a word to enter common use if it does not resemble another word or words in an identifiable way.
When a word or phrase is no longer "new", it is no longer a neologism. Neologisms may take decades to become "old", however. Opinions differ on exactly how old a word must be to cease being considered a neologism; cultural acceptance probably plays a more important role than time in this regard.
Protologism
A
protologism is a new word created in the hope that it will become accepted. A protologism may be no more than suggestion of a word that might be used, whereas a neologism is a word that has been used. The term
protologism, itself a neologism, was coined by
Mikhail EpsteinMikhail N. Epstein is an American literary theorist and critical thinker. He is Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Cultural Theory and Russian Literature at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia...
in 2003. Neologisms don't necessarily begin as protologisms since they may arise rapidly and unintentionally.
Evolution of neologisms
Newly-created words entering a language tend to pass through the following stages:
- Unstable – extremely new, being proposed, or being used only by a small subculture (also known as )
- Diffused – having reached a significant frequency of use, but not yet having gained widespread acceptance
- Stable – having become recognizable, being en vogue, and perhaps, gaining lasting acceptance
- Dated – the point where the word has ceased being novel, entered formal linguistic acceptance and, even may have passed into becoming a cliché
A cliché , is a saying, expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, rendering it a stereotype, especially when at some earlier time it was considered meaningful or novel...
- Passé – when a neologism becomes so culturally dated that the use of it is avoided because its use is seen as a stigma
In sociological theory, a stigma is an attribute, behavior, or reputation which is socially discrediting in a particular way: it causes an individual to be mentally classified by others in an undesirable, rejected stereotype rather than in an accepted, normal one.Erving Goffman, noted sociologist,...
, a sign of being out of step with the norms of a changed cultural tradition, perhaps, with the neologism dropping from the lexicon altogether
Science
Words or phrases created to describe new scientific hypotheses, discoveries, or inventions include:
- x-ray
X-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 10 to 0.01 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays...
, or röntgenograph (November 8, 1895, by RöntgenThe röntgen or roentgen is a unit of measurement for ionizing radiation , and is named after the German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen. Adopted in 1928, 1 R is the amount of radiation required to liberate positive and negative charges of one electrostatic unit of charge in 1 cm³ of dry air at standard...
)
- radar
Radar is an object detection system that uses electromagnetic waves to identify the range, altitude, direction, or speed of both moving and fixed objects such as aircraft, ships, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The term RADAR was coined in 1941 as an acronym for RAdio Detection And...
(1941) from Radio Detection And Ranging
- black hole
In general relativity, a black hole is a region of space in which the gravitational field is so powerful that nothing, not even light, can escape. The black hole has a one-way surface, called an event horizon, into which objects can fall, but out of which nothing can come...
(in the 1960s)
- laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process called stimulated emission. Laser light is usually spatially coherent, which means that the light either is emitted in a narrow, low-divergence beam, or can be converted into one with the help of optical components such as lenses...
(1960) from Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation
- quasar
A quasi-stellar radio source is a powerfully energetic and distant galaxy with an active galactic nucleus. Quasars were first identified as being high redshift sources of electromagnetic energy, including radio waves and visible light, that were point-like, similar to stars, rather than extended...
(1964)
- prion
A prion is an infectious agent that is composed primarily of protein. To date, all such agents that have been discovered propagate by transmitting a mis-folded protein state; the protein itself does not self-replicate and the process is dependent on the presence of the polypeptide in the host...
(1982)
- beetle bank
In agriculture, a beetle bank is a strip of grass or perennial plants in a field that provide habitat which fosters and provides cover for insects hostile to pests.They are used as a form of biological pest control to reduce or replace the use of insecticides....
(early 1990s)
- lidar
LIDAR is an optical remote sensing technology that measures properties of scattered light to find range and/or other information of a distant target. The prevalent method to determine distance to an object or surface is to use laser pulses...
(late 1990s) from Light Detection And Ranging
Science fiction
Concepts created to describe new, futuristic ideas include,
- beaming
Teleportation is supposed to be the transfer of matter from one point to another, more or less instantaneously, either by paranormal means or through technological means. Teleportation has been widely utilized in works of science fiction...
(1931)
- hyperspace
Hyperspace is a plot device sometimes used in science fiction. It is typically described as an alternate region of space co-existing with our own universe which may be entered using an energy field or other device...
(1934)
- robotics
Robotics is the engineering science and technology of robots, and their design, manufacture, and application. Robotics is related to electronics, mechanics, and software. The word robot was introduced to the public by Czech writer Karel Čapek in his play R.U.R. , published in 1920...
(1941)
- waldo
A remote manipulator, also known as a telefactor, telemanipulator, or waldo , is a device which, through electronic, hydraulic, or mechanical linkages, allows a hand-like mechanism to be controlled by a human operator...
(1942)
- Dyson sphere
A Dyson sphere is a hypothetical megastructure originally described by Freeman Dyson. Such a "sphere" would be a system of orbiting solar power satellites meant to completely encompass a star and capture most or all of its energy output...
(circa 1960)
- grok
To grok is to share the same semiosphere or line of thinking with another physical or conceptual entity. Author Robert A. Heinlein coined the term in his best-selling 1961 book Stranger in a Strange Land. In Heinlein's view, grokking is the intermingling of intelligence that necessarily affects...
(1961)
- ansible
An ansible is a hypothetical machine capable of superluminal communication. Ansibles are used as plot devices in science fiction literature.- Origin :...
(1966)
- phaser
Phaser can refer to:* Endosulfan, an organic compound* Phaser , in the Star Trek fictional universe* Phaser , in electronics, an audio signal processor used to distort the signal...
(1966)
- warp speed (1966)
- ringworld
Ringworld is a Hugo, Nebula, and Locus award-winning 1970 science fiction novel by Larry Niven, set in his Known Space universe and considered a classic of science fiction literature. It is followed by three sequels, and ties into numerous other books set in Known Space...
(1971)
- replicant
A replicant is a bioengineered or biorobotic being created in the film Blade Runner . The Nexus series—genetically designed by the Tyrell Corporation—are virtually identical to an adult human, but have superior strength, agility, and variable intelligence depending on the model...
(1982)
- cyberspace
Cyberspace is the global domain of electromagnetics as accessed and exploited through electronic technology and the modulation of electromagnetic energy to achieve a wide range of communication and control system capabilities...
(1984)
- xenocide
Xenocide is the third novel in the Ender's Game series of books by Orson Scott Card. It was nominated for both the Hugo and Locus Awards for Best Novel in 1992...
(1991)
- metaverse
The Metaverse is a fictional virtual world, described in Neal Stephenson's 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash, where humans, as avatars, interact with each other and software agents, in a three-dimensional space that uses the metaphor of the real world. The word metaverse is a portmanteau of the...
(1992)
- alien space bats
Alien space bats is a neologism for plot devices used in alternate history to create a point of divergence that would otherwise be implausible.-Definition:...
(1998)
- teleojuxtaposition (2003)
Literature more generally
See "Neologisms in literature" topic below.
Politics
See also :Category:Political neologisms
Words or phrases created to make some kind of political or rhetorical point, sometimes perhaps with an eye to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesisThe linguistic relativity principle is the idea that the varying cultural concepts and categories inherent in different languages affect the cognitive classification of the experienced world in such a way that speakers of different languages think and behave differently because of it.The idea that...
, include:
genocideGenocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group.While precise definition varies among genocide scholars, a legal definition is found in the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of...
(1943)
DixiecratThe States' Rights Democratic Party was a segregationist, socially conservative political party in the United States. The term Dixiecrat is a portmanteau of Dixie, referring to the Southern United States, and Democrat, referring to the United States Democratic Party...
(1948)
meritocracyMeritocracy is a system of a government or other organization wherein appointments are made and responsibilities assigned to individuals based upon demonstrated talent and ability . In a meritocracy, society rewards those who show talent and competence as demonstrated by past actions or by...
(1958)
pro-lifeThe pro-life movement is a political and social movement focused chiefly around opposition to abortion, and especially support for the criminalization of abortion. Those involved in the movement generally maintain that human fetuses and embryos are persons, and that therefore they have a right to...
(1961)
homophobiaHomophobia is defined as an "irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals", or individuals perceived to be homosexual; it is also defined as "unreasoning fear of or antipathy toward homosexuals and homosexuality", "fear of or contempt for lesbians and gay...
(1969)
political correctnessPolitical correctness is a term denoting language, ideas, policies, and behavior seen as seeking to minimize social offense in gender, racial, cultural, handicap, and age-related usages...
(1970)
Californication
(1970s)
pro-choicePro-choice describes the political and ethical view that a woman should have complete control over her fertility and the choice to continue or terminate a pregnancy. This entails the guarantee of reproductive rights, which includes access to sexual education; access to safe and legal abortion,...
(1975)
heterosexismHeterosexism is a term that applies to negative attitudes, bias, and discrimination in favor of opposite-sex sexuality and relationships. It can include the presumption that everyone is heterosexual or that opposite-sex attractions and relationships are the norm and therefore superior...
(1979)
glocalisationGlocalisation is a portmanteau word of globalization and localization. By definition, the term “glocal” refers to the individual, group, division, unit, organisation, and community which is willing and able to “think globally and act locally.” The term has been used to show the human capacity to...
(1980s)
sie
and hir
(pronounIn linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a pro-form that substitutes for a noun with or without a determiner, such as you and they in English...
s) (1981)
RepublicratRepublicrat or Demopublican is a portmanteau of the names of the two major political parties in the United States to form a pejorative term used by those on both the right and left who allege the policies of the two parties are in practice indistinguishable, and so form essentially one party with...
(1985)
astroturfingAstroturfing is an English-language euphemism referring to political, advertising, or public relations campaigns that are formally planned by an organization, but designed to mask its origins to create the impression of being spontaneous, popular "grassroots" behavior...
(1986)
dog-whistle politicsDog-whistle politics, also known as the use of code words, is a term for a type of political campaigning or speechmaking which is employs coded language that appears to mean one thing to the general population but has a different or more specific meaning for a targeted subgroup of the audience...
(1990)
IslamophobiaIslamophobia is a neologism that refers to prejudice or discrimination against Islam or Muslims. The term seems to date back to the late 1980s, but came into common usage after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States...
(1991)
soccer momThe phrase soccer mom broadly refers to a middle-class suburban woman who spends a significant amount of her time transporting her school-age children to their sporting events or other activities. Indices of American magazines and newspapers show relatively little usage of the term until a 1995...
(1992)
fauxtographyFaux Cyrillic, pseudo-Cyrillic, pseudo-Russian or faux Russian typography is the use of Cyrillic letters in Latin text to evoke the Soviet Union or Russia. For example, R and N in RUSSIAN may be replaced by Cyrillic Я and И, giving "ЯUSSIAИ"...
(1996)
affluenzaAffluenza, a combination of the words affluence and influenza, is a term used by critics of capitalism and consumerism. Sources define this term as follows:...
(1997)
red stateRed state may refer to:* A state in the United states with a tendency toward electing Republicans; see Red states and blue states* RedState, an American political weblog aimed at Republicans and American conservatives...
/blue state/swing stateIn United States presidential politics, a swing state is a state in which no candidate has overwhelming support, meaning that any of the major candidates has a reasonable chance of winning the state's electoral college votes...
(c. 2000)
corporatocracyCorporatocracy or Corpocracy is a form of government where a corporation, a group of corporations, or government entities with private components, control the direction and governance of a country.-Concept:...
(2000s)
IslamofascismThe term Islamofascism is a controversial neologism which draws an analogy between the ideological characteristics of specific Islamist movements from the turn of the twenty-first century on, and a broad range of European fascist movements of the early twentieth century, neofascist movements, or...
(2001)
santorum (2003)
ChindiaChindia is a portmanteau word that refers to China and India together in general, and their economies in particular. The credit of coining the now popular term goes to Jairam Ramesh, an Indian politician....
(2004)
NASCAR dadIn North American social, cultural and political discourse, NASCAR dad refers broadly to a demographic group of often white, usually middle-aged, working-class or lower-middle-class men. The group received this nickname because they are men who are believed to typically enjoy watching NASCAR...
(2004)
datagogy
Saddlebacking (2009)
Corporate branding
Words coined to name or re-brand corporations and signifying new meaning include:
- Accenture
Accenture plc is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. It was previously incorporated in Bermuda but since 1 September 2009 has been incorporated in Ireland. It is said to be the largest consulting firm in the world. Accenture is a Fortune Global 500...
(2001), derived from "accent on the future"
- Acette
Acette is an Information Technology System Integrator, Software Engineering and Consulting firm headquartered in Dubai Internet City. Acette provides technology strategy consulting services, enterprise application integration services, Information technology enabled services and Value-added...
(2002), derived from "ace", meaning expertise, and the encapsulating suffix "ette"; when read together as aye~set signifying "expertise encapsulated".
- Protiviti
Protiviti is a global consulting and internal audit firm specializing in risk and advisory services. Protiviti’s customers are in the areas of finance, operations, technology, litigation, and governance, risk and compliance. Protiviti has offices in 61 major markets, with 33 in the United States...
(2002), derived from professionalism and proactivity as well as independence and integrity.
Design
Words created to describe new kinds of objects and concepts originating in various types of
designDesign is the planning that lays the basis for the making of every object or system. It can be used both as a noun and as a verb and, in a broader way, it means applied arts and engineering . As a verb, "to design" refers to the process of originating and developing a plan for a product,...
include:
- Bauhaus
' is the common term for the ', a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933....
(early 20th century)
- blobject
A Blobject is a term coined by either designer / author, Steven Skov Holt or designer, Karim Rashid. Its origin is still currently debated. The more popular theory is that the word is a contraction or portmanteau of "blobby" and "object" coined by design critic and educator Steven Skov Holt in...
(1990s)
- fabject (2004), a fabricated 3-D object
- kirkyan (2006)
Popular culture
Words or phrases evolved from mass media content or used to describe popular cultural phenomena (these may be considered a variety of
slangSlang is the use of highly informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's dialect or language. It is often used as a way to say words that are not appropriate, and is not often found in the standard dictionary for the language...
as well as neologisms) include:
- moin
Moin is a Frisian and Low German greeting from East Frisia, Southern Schleswig , Bremen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the eastern Netherlands and Southern Jutland in Denmark, meaning "hello".-Usage:...
' (early 20th century)
- prequel
A prequel is a work that supplements a previously completed one, and has an earlier time setting.The widely recognized term was a 20th-century neologism, and a portmanteau from pre- and sequel .-History:Though the word "Prequel" is of...
(1958)
- Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standardized Internet Protocol Suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
(1974)
- jumping the shark
Jumping the shark is a colloquialism coined by Jon Hein and used by TV critics and fans to denote the point in a television program's history where the plot veers off into absurd story lines or out-of-the-ordinary characterizations. This usually corresponds to the point where a show with falling...
(late 1970s)
- posterized
See also the image-editing technique posterizationNorth American slang derived from an action in the game of basketball, in which the offensive player "dunks" over a defending player in a play that is spectacular and athletic enough to warrant reproduction in a printed poster...
(c. 1980s) ("posterize" also has existed for some time as a term for an image-editing technique; its neologistic sports usage is completely unrelated)
- queercore
Queercore is a cultural and social movement that began in the mid-1980s as an offshoot of punk. Queercore expresses itself in DIY style through zines, music, writing, art and film....
(mid 1980s)
- plus-size (1990s)
- blog
A blog is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order...
(late 1990s)
- hard-target search
Soft target is a military term referring to unarmored/undefended targets needing to be destroyed. For example, a soft target would be an automobile, a house or assembly of people while a hard target could be a main battle tank or a well defended installation...
(1993) - first used in the movie "The Fugitive"
- chav
Chav , charve or scally , ned , is a derogatory term applied to certain young people in the United Kingdom. The stereotypical chav is an aggressive teenager or young adult who often engages in anti-social behaviour, such as street drinking, drug abuse and rowdy behaviour...
(early 2000s)
- webinar (early 2000s)
- wardrobe malfunction
A wardrobe malfunction is an accidental instance of indecent exposure of intimate parts. It is different from flashing as the latter implies a deliberate exposure...
(2004)
- truthiness
Truthiness is a term first used in its recent satirical sense by American television comedian Stephen Colbert in 2005, to describe things that a person claims to know intuitively or "from the gut" without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or facts...
(2005) (already existed as an obscure word previously recorded by the Oxford English DictionaryThe Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press , is a comprehensive dictionary of the English language...
, but its 2005 usage on The Colbert ReportThe Colbert Report is an American satirical late night television program that airs Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central in the United States and on both The Comedy Network and CTV in Canada...
was a neologistic one, with a new definition)
- fauxhawk (mid 2000s)
- From d'oh to cromulent – many culturally-significant phrases from The Simpsons (1989–) are now in common use
- consumerization
Consumerization[1] is a stable neologism that describes the trend for technology companies to bring new technology to the consumer market ahead of business markets.[2] Resulting in a switch of technology power from the work place to the home...
(2004)
- santorum (2003)
- saddlebacking (2009)
Commerce and advertising
Genericised trademarks include:
- aspirin
Aspirin , also known as acetylsalicylic acid , is a salicylate drug, often used as an analgesic to relieve minor aches and pains, as an antipyretic to reduce fever, and as an anti-inflammatory medication....
- heroin
Heroin, or diacetylmorphine , also known as diamorphine , is a semi-synthetic opioid drug synthesized from morphine, a derivative of the opium poppy. It is the 3,6-diacetyl ester of morphine...
- band-aid
Band-Aid is brand name for Johnson & Johnson's line of adhesive bandages and related products. It has also become something of genericized trademark for any adhesive bandage in Australia, Brazil, Canada, India and United States....
- frisbee
Flying discs are disc-shaped objects, which are generally plastic and roughly 20 to 25 centimeters in diameter, with a lip. The shape of the disc, an airfoil in cross-section, allows it to fly by generating lift as it moves through the air while rotating...
- hoover
-People:*Herbert Hoover, 31st President of the United States, mining engineer*J. Edgar Hoover, longest-reigning head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation *Bob Hoover, a legendary airshow and test pilot, author...
- kleenex
Kleenex is a brand name for a variety of products such as facial tissue, bathroom tissue, paper towels, and diapers. Kleenex is a registered trademark of Kimberly-Clark Worldwide, Inc. Often used as a genericized trademark, especially in the United States, "Kleenex" is in fact owned and used as a...
- laundromat
Linguistics
Words or phrases created to describe new language constructs include:
- retronym
A retronym is a new name for an object or concept to differentiate the original form or version of it from a more recent form or version. The original name is most often augmented with an adjective to account for later developments of the object or concept itself...
(popularized in 1980)
- backronym
A backronym or bacronym is a phrase constructed after the fact to make an existing word or words into an acronym. Backronyms may be invented with serious or humorous intent, or may be a type of false or folk etymology....
(1983)
- aptronym
An aptronym is a name aptly suited to its owner. Fictional examples of aptronyms include Mr. Talkative and Mr. Worldly Wiseman in John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress , Truman Burbank , the lead character in the 1998 film The Truman Show and the principal cast of the Mr Men .-Examples:* Jeff...
(2003; popularized by Franklin Pierce AdamsFranklin Pierce Adams was an American columnist and wit, best known for his newspaper column, "The Conning Tower", and his appearances as a regular panelist on radio's Information Please...
)
- snowclone
A snowclone is a type of cliché and phrasal template originally defined as "a multi-use, customizable, instantly recognizable, time-worn, quoted or misquoted phrase or sentence that can be used in an entirely open array of different variants"....
(2004)
- xerox
- googling
The verb to google refers to using the Google search engine to obtain information on the Web. A neologism arising from the popularity and dominance of the eponymous search engine, the American Dialect Society chose it as the "most useful word of 2002." It was officially added to the Oxford English...
- photoshopping
- protologism (2005)
Other
Miscellaneous sources include:
- nonce word
A nonce word is a word used only "for the nonce"—to meet a need that is not expected to recur. Quark, for example, was a nonce word in English appearing only in James Joyce's Finnegans Wake until Murray Gell-Mann quoted it to name a new class of subatomic particle...
s—are words coined and used only for a particular occasion, usually for a special literary effect.
Neologisms in literature
Many neologisms have come from popular literature and tend to appear in different forms. Most commonly, they are simply taken from a word used in the narrative of a book; a few representative examples are: "
grokTo grok is to share the same semiosphere or line of thinking with another physical or conceptual entity. Author Robert A. Heinlein coined the term in his best-selling 1961 book Stranger in a Strange Land. In Heinlein's view, grokking is the intermingling of intelligence that necessarily affects...
" (to achieve complete intuitive understanding), from
Stranger in a Strange LandStranger in a Strange Land is a best-selling 1961 Hugo Award-winning science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein. It tells the story of Valentine Michael Smith, a human raised by Martians on the planet Mars, upon his return to Earth in early adulthood. The novel explores his interaction with —...
by Robert A. HeinleinRobert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called "the dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most popular, influential, and controversial authors of the genre. He set a high standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's...
; "McJobMcJob is slang for a low-paying, low-prestige job that requires few skills and offers very little chance of intracompany advancement. Such jobs are also known as contingent work...
", from Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated CultureGeneration X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, published by St. Martin's Press in 1991, is the first novel by Douglas Coupland. The novel popularized the term Generation X, which refers to Americans and Canadians who reached adulthood in the late 1980s...
by Douglas CouplandDouglas Coupland is a Canadian novelist. His fiction is complemented by recognised works in design and visual art arising from his early formal training. His first novel, the 1991 international bestseller Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, popularised terms such as McJob and...
; "cyberspaceCyberspace is the global domain of electromagnetics as accessed and exploited through electronic technology and the modulation of electromagnetic energy to achieve a wide range of communication and control system capabilities...
", from NeuromancerNeuromancer is a 1984 novel by William Gibson, notable for being the most famous early cyberpunk novel and winner of the science-fiction "triple crown"—the Nebula Award, the Philip K. Dick Award, and the Hugo Award. It was Gibson's first novel and the beginning of the Sprawl trilogy...
by William GibsonWilliam Gibson is an American-Canadian science fiction author.William Gibson may also refer to:*William Gibson , English Catholic martyr...
; "nymphetA nymphet is seen to be a sexually precocious, attractive girl, and the term was notably used by French author Pierre de Ronsard, and popularised by Vladimir Nabokov in the novel Lolita. In Lolita, protagonist Humbert Humbert uses nymphet to describe the 9-14-year-old girls to whom he is attracted...
" from LolitaLolita is a novel by Vladimir Nabokov, first written in English and published in 1955 in Paris, later translated by the author into Russian and published in 1958 in New York...
by Vladimir NabokovVladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was a multilingual Russian novelist and short story writer....
.
Sometimes the title of a book becomes the neologism, for instance, Catch-22Catch-22 is a satirical, historical novel by the American author Joseph Heller, first published in 1961. The novel, set during the later stages of World War II from 1943 onwards, is frequently cited as one of the great literary works of the twentieth century...
(from the title of Joseph HellerJoseph Heller was an American satirical novelist, short story writer and playwright. He wrote the influential novel Catch-22 about American servicemen during World War II...
's novel). Alternately, the author's name may become the neologism, although the term is sometimes based on only one work of that author. This includes such words as "OrwellianThe adjective Orwellian describes the situation, idea, or societal condition that George Orwell identified as being destructive to the welfare of a free society...
" (from George OrwellEric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist and journalist...
, referring to his novel Nineteen Eighty-FourNineteen Eighty-Four is a dystopian novel, by George Orwell, published in 1949 about the totalitarian régime of the Party, an oligarchical collectivist society where life in the Oceanian province of Airstrip One is a world of perpetual war, pervasive government surveillance, public mind control,...
) and "Ballardesque" or "Ballardian" (from J.G. Ballard, author of Crash
). Kurt VonnegutKurt Vonnegut, Jr. was an American novelist known for works blending satire, black comedy, and science fiction including Slaughterhouse-Five , Cat's Cradle , and Breakfast of Champions...
's Cat's CradleCat's Cradle is a 1963 science fiction novel by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. It explores issues of science, technology, and religion, satirizing the arms race and many other targets along the way...
was the container of the BokononismBokononism is the fictional religion practiced by many of the characters in Kurt Vonnegut's novel Cat's Cradle.It is based on the concept of foma, which are defined as harmless untruths. The primary tenet of Bokononism is to "Live by the foma that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy."...
family of nonce words.
Another category is words derived from famous characters in literature, such as quixoticQuixotic can refer to:* Quixotic, a New Mexico home grown hip hop band* Quixotic, an adjective deriving from the novel Don Quixote* Quixotic, an album by Martina Topley-Bird* DJ Quixotic, a Los Angeles-based record producer...
(referring to the titular character, fully titled The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha , is a novel written by Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes...
in Don Quixote de la Mancha
by Cervantes-People:*Alfonso J. Cervantes , mayor of St. Louis, Missouri*Cervantes , a fictional character in the Soul series of fighting games*Francisco Cervantes de Salazar, 16th-century man of letters*Ignacio Cervantes, Cuban composer...
), a scroogeScrooge may refer to:*Ebenezer Scrooge, the name of the selfish and miserly protagonist of Charles Dickens' 1843 novel A Christmas Carol*Scrooge , a film featuring Seymour Hicks*Scrooge , a film featuring Alastair Sim...
(from the main character in Dickens's A Christmas CarolA Christmas Carol is a novella by English author Charles Dickens about a curmudgeon and his secular conversion and redemption after being visited by three ghosts on Christmas Eve...
), or a pollyannaPollyanna is a best-selling 1913 novel by Eleanor H. Porter that is now considered a classic of children's literature. The book was such a success that Porter soon produced a sequel, Pollyanna Grows Up . Eleven more Pollyanna sequels, known as "Glad Books", were later published, most of them...
(from Eleanor H. PorterEleanor Hodgman Porter was an American novelist.Born in Littleton, New Hampshire, Eleanor Hodgman was trained as a singer but later turned to writing. In 1892, she married John Lyman Porter and moved to Massachusetts...
's book of the same name). James JoyceJames Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish expatriate author, playwright and poet of the 20th century. He is known for his landmark novel Ulysses and its controversial successor Finnegans Wake , as well as the short story collection Dubliners and the semi-autobiographical novel A Portrait of...
's Finnegans WakeFinnegans Wake is a work of comic fiction by Irish author James Joyce, significant for an experimental style, and its resulting reputation as one of the most difficult works of fiction in the English language. Written in Paris over a period of 17 years, and published in 1939, two years before the...
, composed in a uniquely complex linguistic style, coined the words monomythThe term monomyth, also referred to as the hero's journey, refers to a basic pattern found in many narratives from around the world. This widely-distributed pattern was described by Joseph Campbell in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces...
and quarkA quark is an elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei. Due to a phenomenon known as color confinement, quarks are never found in...
.
Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pen name Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer...
has been called "the king of neologistic poems" because of his poem, "
Jabberwocky"Jabberwocky" is a poem of nonsense verse written by Lewis Carroll, originally featured as a part of his novel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There . It is considered by many to be one of the greatest nonsense poems written in the English language...
", which incorporated dozens of invented words. The early modern English prose writings of
Sir Thomas BrowneSir Thomas Browne was an English author of varied works which disclose his wide learning in diverse fields including medicine, religion, science and the esoteric....
are the source of many neologisms as recorded by the
OEDThe Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press , is a comprehensive dictionary of the English language...
.
Quotation
- "Yesterday's neologisms, like yesterday's jargon
Jargon is terminology which is especially defined in relationship to a specific activity, profession, or group. In other words, the term most often covers the language used by people who work in a particular area or who have a common interest...
, are often today's essential vocabulary."
- – Academic Instincts, 2001
See also
- Buzzword
A buzzword is a idiom, usually a neologism, that is common to managerial, technical, administrative, and political work environments...
- Daffynition
A daffynition is a pun format involving the reinterpretation of an existing word, on the basis that it sounds like another word . They are similar to transpositional puns, but often much less complex and easier to create.Some daffynitions may be puns...
- Doublespeak
Doublespeak is language constructed to disguise or distort its actual meaning, often resulting in a communication bypass. Doublespeak may take the form of euphemisms or deliberate ambiguity....
- Dr. Seuss
Theodor Seuss Geisel was an American writer and cartoonist most widely known for his children's books written under the pen name Dr. Seuss. He published over 60 children's books, which were often characterized by imaginative characters, rhyme, and frequent use of trisyllabic meter...
, author and renowned creator of neologisms
- Dysphemism
In language, dysphemism , malphemism , and cacophemism refer to the usage of an intentionally harsh word or expression instead of a polite one; they are rough opposites of euphemism...
- Eponym
An eponym is the name of a person, whether real or fictitious, after which a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named. One who is referred to as eponymous is someone who gives his or her name to something, e.g...
- Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages, and texts about the languages, to gather knowledge about how words were used at earlier stages, and...
- Euphemism
A euphemism is a substitution of an agreeable or less offensive expression in place of one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant to the listener, or in the case of Doublespeak, to make it less troublesome for the speaker...
- Finnegans wake
Finnegans Wake is a work of comic fiction by Irish author James Joyce, significant for an experimental style, and its resulting reputation as one of the most difficult works of fiction in the English language. Written in Paris over a period of 17 years, and published in 1939, two years before the...
(James JoyceJames Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish expatriate author, playwright and poet of the 20th century. He is known for his landmark novel Ulysses and its controversial successor Finnegans Wake , as well as the short story collection Dubliners and the semi-autobiographical novel A Portrait of...
's novel with an unusually high proportion of neologisms)
- Jargon
Jargon is terminology which is especially defined in relationship to a specific activity, profession, or group. In other words, the term most often covers the language used by people who work in a particular area or who have a common interest...
- Malapropism
A malapropism is the substitution of a word for a word with a similar sound, in which the resulting phrase makes no sense but often creates a comic effect. It is not the same as an eggcorn, which is a similar substitution in which the new phrase makes sense on some level...
- Newspeak
Newspeak is a fictional language in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. In the novel, it is described as being "the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year". Orwell included an essay about it in the form of an appendix in which the basic principles of the...
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Nonce word A nonce word is a word used only "for the nonce"—to meet a need that is not expected to recur. Quark, for example, was a nonce word in English appearing only in James Joyce's Finnegans Wake until Murray Gell-Mann quoted it to name a new class of subatomic particle...
OnomatopoeiaAn onomatopoeia or onomatopœia, from the Greek ὀνοματοποιία , is a word that imitates or suggests the source of the sound that it describes. Onomatopoeia refers to the property of such words. Common occurrences of onomatopoeias include animal noises, such as "oink" or "meow" or...
Paul McFedriesPaul McFedries is a Canadian author of more than 40 computer books that have sold 3 million copies worldwide. He has been programming since he was a teenager in the mid-1970s, and is the president of Logophilia Limited, a technical writing company...
Phono-semantic matchingPhono-semantic matching is a term in linguistics that refers to camouflaged borrowing in which a foreign word is matched with a phonetically and semantically similar pre-existent native word/root...
Portmanteau
PropagandaPropaganda is communication aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position. As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense, presents information primarily to influence an audience...
RetronymA retronym is a new name for an object or concept to differentiate the original form or version of it from a more recent form or version. The original name is most often augmented with an adjective to account for later developments of the object or concept itself...
Siamese twins (English language)Siamese twins in the context of the English language refers to a pair or grouping of words that is used together as an idiomatic expression or collocation, usually conjoined by the words and or or. The order of elements cannot be reversed...
SnigletA sniglet is a neologism defined as "any word that doesn't appear in the dictionary, but should". The term was created by writer/actor/comedian Rich Hall, who first created a series of Sniglets while he was a performer on the 1980s HBO comedy series Not Necessarily the News. Each episode of the...
Syllabic abbreviations
Word formationIn linguistics, word formation is the creation of a new word. Word formation is sometimes contrasted with semantic change, which is a change in a single word's meaning...
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General information
Wiktionary
- Wiktionary: Neologisms
- Wiktionary: Neologisms unstable
- Wiktionary: Neologisms diffused
- Wiktionary: Neologisms stable
- protologism
Indices
Foreign languages