• Question: how do you make up words to go in the dictionary ?

    Asked by laylaleighh to Alastair, Emma, Hywel, Keith, Vicki on 17 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Hywel Vaughan

      Hywel Vaughan answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      Words that end up in the dictionary tend to be ones that are commonly used. If a word is used often enough by a large enough group of people, and it has a given definition, this is normally accepted and added to a dictionary when they revise it (not all dictionaries are the same!)
      A great example of this is ‘Meh’, which was added to the Collins Dictionary in 2008.

    • Photo: Alastair Sloan

      Alastair Sloan answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      I think that when words become commonplace in the language they are considered for being included in a dictionary. Who decides are usually the editors of a dictionary. The more commonly used word, the more likely it is to be put in a dictionary. I suspect that in a year or so the word “app” will be in!

    • Photo: Keith Brain

      Keith Brain answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      All you need to do is to get them used by other people. So, find some new concept, use it on as many social media as you can, and see what happens. Of course, there are some other ways … For example, characterising a new species generally gives you the right to name it, so that way your new name could end up in a dictionary (of a sought …). So, become a scientist and you get to name things! By the way, acronyms are often used in very technical scientific literature. One I’m try to get more widely used in my field is NCT (for Neuroeffector Calcium Transient). For some reason or another it doesn’t seem to be catching on! 😉

    • Photo: Vicki Stevenson

      Vicki Stevenson answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      anyone can make up a word, but it will only get into a dictionary if enough people use it

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