It’s a big day for Linguistics Departments across the English-speaking world, as Merriam-Webster has just added more than 1,400 new words and phrases to the dictionary.
Some newly defined words include ‘waggle dance,’ ‘wacky tobacky’ and ‘hella,’ which may lead you to believe that the latest additions are rather silly. However, words are our most primary form of self-expression and, as such, it’s crucial that we have the tools we need to say exactly what we mean.
For instance, the honorific Mx. (a gender-neutral form of Mrs. or Mr.) was added to the dictionary.
Other new words include FOMO (fear of missing), Nomophobia (fear of being without a cell phone), dox (to publicly identify or publish private information about [someone] especially as a form of punishment or revenge) and ICYMI (in case you missed it).
Bitcoin, revenge porn and TMI also made the list.