Noah Webster published his first dictionary in 1806. (Source: Wikimedia/National Portrait Gallery)-
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(RNN) - Each year, linguists give Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary a renovation.
Publishers sift through trending lingo and phraseology to find out what additions the company should make to its vocabulary.
In order for a word to be published in the 114-year-old dictionary, there must be significant evidence of its usage. In the past, evidence has been found in everything from books to beer labels.
The key is proving that a word has been consistently used over a long period of time.
After all the appropriate evidence is gathered, publishers create citations to document the reasoning behind making the word official. According to Merriam-Webster, each citation includes three basic components:
- The word itself.
- An example of the word used in context.
- Bibliographic information about the source from which the word and example were taken.
Each year, about 100 words are deemed worthy and the book contains about 470,000 entries.
Publishers released the latest edition of Noah Webster's renowned reference book Tuesday. Here are some of the notable entries along with the year that researchers first found them used:
- aha moment n. (1939): a moment of sudden realization, inspiration, insight, recognition or comprehension.
- bucket list n. (2006): a list of things that one has not done before but wants to do before dying
- energy drink n. (1904): a usually carbonated beverage that typically contains caffeine and other ingredients (such as taurine and ginseng) intended to increase the drinker's energy
- f-bomb n. (1988): … used metaphorically as a euphemism
- gastropub n. (1996): a pub, bar, or tavern that also offers meals of high quality
- life coach n. (1986): an adviser who helps people make decisions, set and reach goals, or deal with problems
- man cave n. (1992): a room or space (as in a basement) designed according to the taste of the man of the house to be used as his personal area for hobbies and leisure activities
- obesogenic adj. (1986): promoting excessive weight gain: producing obesity
- sexting n. (2007): the sending of sexually explicit messages or images by cellphone
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F-bomb, sexting among latest additions to the dictionary
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