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A neologism is a word, term, or phrase which has been recently created ("coined") — often to apply to new concepts, or to reshape older terms in newer language form. Neologisms are especially useful in identifying inventions, new phenomena, or old ideas which have taken on a new cultural context. The term e-mail, as used today, would be an example of a neologism. A word is a unit of language that carries meaning and consists of one or more morphemes which are linked more or less tightly together. ...
The word term refers to either a word unit or a time unit with specified boundaries or limits. ...
A phrase is a group of words that functions as a single unit in the syntax of a sentence. ...
In music, an invention is a short composition with two or three part counterpoint. ...
A phenomenon (plural: phenomena) is an observable event, especially something special (literally something that can be seen from the Greek word phainomenon = observable). ...
An idea (Greek: ιδέα) is the result of thinking. ...
Neologisms are by definition "new", and as such are often directly attributable to a specific individual, publication, period or event. The term "neologism" was itself coined around 1800; so for some time in the early 19th Century, the word "neologism" was itself a neologism. 1800 (MDCCC) was an common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...
Neologisms can also refer to an existing word or phrase which has been assigned a new meaning.
In psychiatry, the term is used to describe the creation of words which only have meaning to the person who uses them. It is considered normal in children, but a symptom of thought disorder indicative of a psychotic mental illness such as schizophrenia in adults. Usage of neologisms may also be related to aphasia acquired after brain damage resulting from, say, a stroke or head injury. Psychiatry is a medical speciality whose primary goal is to improve peoples mental well-being. ...
In psychiatry, thought disorder or formal thought disorder is a term used to describe a symptom of psychotic mental illness. ...
Psychosis is a generic psychiatric term for a mental state in which thought and perception are severely impaired. ...
Mental illness (or emotional disability, cognitive dysfunction) is a broad generic label for a category of illnesses that may include affective or emotional instability, behavioral dysregulation, and/or cognitive dysfunction or impairment. ...
Aphasia (also Aphemia - from Greek α, without, and φημη, speech), is a loss or impairment of the ability to produce and/or comprehend language, due to brain damage. ...
Brain damage or brain injury is the destruction or degeneration of brain cells. ...
For other uses, see Stroke (disambiguation). ...
Traumatic brain injury (TBI), traumatic injuries to the brain, also called intracranial injury, or simply head injury, occurs when a sudden trauma causes brain damage. ...
In theology, a neologism is a relatively new doctrine (for example, rationalism). In this sense, a neologist is an innovator in the area of a doctrine or belief system, and is often considered heretical or subversive by the mainstream clergy or religious institution(s). Theology (Greek θεος, theos, God, + λογος, logos, word or reason) means reasoned discourse concerning religion, spirituality and God. ...
The factual accuracy of this article is disputed. ...
Changing culture Neologisms tend to occur more often in cultures which are rapidly changing like South Africa, and also in situations where there is easy and fast propagation of information. They are often created by combining existing words (see compound noun and adjective) or by giving words new and unique suffixes or prefixes. Those which are portmanteaux are shortened. Neologisms can also be created through abbreviation or acronym, by intentionally rhyming with existing words, or simply through playing with sounds. A compound is a word composed of more than one free morphemes. ...
Suffix has meanings in linguistics, nomenclature and computer science. ...
In linguistics, a prefix is a type of affix that precedes the morphemes to which it can attach. ...
Look up Portmanteau word in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
It has been suggested that Apocopation be merged into this article or section. ...
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Backronym and Apronym (Discuss) Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations, such as NATO, laser, and ABC, written as the initial letter or letters of words, and pronounced on the basis of this abbreviated written form. ...
A rhyme is a repetition of identical or similar sounds in two or more different words and is most often used in poetry. ...
Neologisms often become popular by way of mass media, the Internet, or word of mouth (see also Wiktionary's Neologisms:unstable or Protologism pages for a wiki venue of popularizing newly coined words). Every word in a language was, at some time, a neologism, though most of these ceased to be such through time and acceptance. Mass media is a term used to denote, as a class, that section of the media specifically conceived and designed to reach a very large audience (typically at least as large as the whole population of a nation state). ...
Word of mouth (WOM) is the passing of information by verbal means, especially recommendations, but also general information, in an informal, person-to-person manner, rather than by mass media, advertising, organized publication, or traditional marketing. ...
Wiktionary is a Wikimedia Foundation project intended to be a free wiki dictionary (hence: Wiktionary) (including thesaurus and lexicon) in every language. ...
Neologisms often become accepted parts of the language. Other times, however, they disappear from common usage. 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 experts 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. (In some cases however, strange new words succeed because the idea behind them is especially memorable or exciting). When a word or phrase is no longer "new," it is no longer a neologism. Neologisms may take decades to become "old," though. Opinions differ on exactly how old a word must be to no longer be considered a neologism; cultural acceptance probably plays a more important role than time in this regard.
Cultural acceptance After being coined, neologisms invariably undergo scrutiny by the public and by language prescriptivists to determine their suitability to the language. Many are accepted very quickly; others attract opposition. Language experts sometimes object to a neologism on the grounds that a suitable term for the thing described already exists in the language. Non-experts who dislike the neologism sometimes also use this argument, deriding the neologism as "abuse and ignorance of the language." In linguistics, prescription is the laying down or prescribing of normative rules for the use of a language. ...
Some neologisms, especially those dealing with sensitive subjects, are often objected to on the grounds that they obscure the issue being discussed, and that such a word's novelty often leads a discussion away from the root issue and onto a sidetrack about the meaning of the neologism itself.
Proponents of a neologism see it as being useful, and also helping the language to grow and change; often they perceive these words as being a fun and creative way to play with a language. Also, the semantic precision of most neologisms, along with what is usually a straightforward syntax, often makes them easier to grasp by people who are not native speakers of the language. For other uses, see Syntax (disambiguation). ...
The outcome of these debates, when they occur, has a great deal of influence on whether a neologism eventually becomes an accepted part of the language[citation needed]. Linguists may sometimes delay acceptance, for instance by refusing to include the neologism in dictionaries; this can sometimes cause a neologism to die out over time[citation needed]. Nevertheless if the public continues to use the term, it eventually sheds its status as a neologism and enters the language even over the objections of language experts.
Evolution of neologisms - Unstable - Extremely new, being proposed, or being used only by a very small subculture (also known as protologism).
- Diffused - Having reached a significant audience, but not yet having gained widespread acceptance.
- Stable - Having gained recognizable and probably lasting acceptance.
Sources of neologism - Science — words or phrases created to describe new scientific discoveries or inventions. Examples:
- Science fiction — concepts created to describe new, futuristic ideas. Examples:
- Politics — words or phrases created to make some kind of political or rhetorical point, sometimes perhaps with an eye to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. Examples:
- Pop-culture — words or phrases evolved from mass media content or used to describe popular culture phenomena (these may be considered a variety of slang as well as neologisms). Examples:
- Linguistics; words or phrases created to describe new language constructs. Examples:
- Other — misc. sources. Examples:
- "nonce words" — words coined and used only for a particular occasion, usually for a special literary effect.
In agriculture, a beetle bank is a strip of grass or perennials in a field that provide habitat which fosters and provides cover for insects hostile to pests. ...
A black hole is an object predicted by general relativity with a gravitational field so strong that nothing can escape it — not even light. ...
Experiment using a (likely argon) laser. ...
The term meme (IPA: ), coined in 1976 by Richard Dawkins, refers to a replicator of cultural information that one mind transmits (verbally or by demonstration) to another mind. ...
A prion (IPA: [1] audio) — short for proteinaceous infectious particle — is a unique type of infectious agent, as it is made only of protein. ...
Quarks are one of the two basic constituents of matter in the Standard Model of particle physics. ...
This long range radar antenna, known as ALTAIR, is used to detect and track space objects in conjunction with ABM testing at the Ronald Reagan Test Site on the Kwajalein atoll[1]. Radar is a system that uses radio waves to detect, determine the distance of, and map, objects such...
Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ...
The term ansible is used in science fiction literature to describe a hypothetical faster-than-light communication device. ...
A cut-away diagram of an idealized Dyson shell — a variant on Dysons original concept — 1 AU in radius A Dyson sphere (or shell as it appeared in the original paper) is a hypothetical megastructure. ...
Scene from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope depicting the inside of a starship entering hyperspace. ...
This article does not cite its references or sources. ...
The Metaverse, a phrase coined by Neal Stephensons science fiction novel Snow Crash (1992) constitutes Stephensons vision of how a virtual reality-based Internet might evolve in the near future. ...
A replicant is a bioengineered or biorobotic being created in the film Blade Runner. ...
Larry Nivens Ringworld, seen from space. ...
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with robot. ...
In linguistics, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (SWH) states that there is a systematic relationship between the grammatical categories of the language a person speaks and how that person both understands the world and behaves in it. ...
Chindia is a neologism that refers to China and India together in general, and their economies in particular. ...
Corporatocracy (sometimes corporocracy) is a neologism coined by proponents of the Global Justice Movement to describe a government bowing to pressure from corporate entities. ...
To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...
Dog-whistle politics is a term used to describe a type of political campaigning which is only heard by a specific intended audience. ...
The 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict photographs controversies refers to allegations that photojournalism from the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict was distorted in favor of Hezbollah and against Israel and the Israel Defense Forces, mostly by misrepresenting scenes of death and destruction in Lebanon caused by Israeli air attacks. ...
Genocide is defined by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG) Article 2 as any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such: Killing members of the group; Causing...
Heterosexism is a belief or argument that male-female sexuality is the only natural, normal, or moral mode of sexual behavior, and is also used to refer to the effects of that cultural ideology. ...
The word homophobia means fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals. ...
Islamophobia is a neologism with no agreed definition. ...
This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
Political correctness is the alteration of language to redress real or alleged injustices and discrimination or to avoid offense. ...
Republicrat or Demopublican (or the shorter Demolican or Democan) are portmanteaus of the names of the two main political parties in the United States, the Republicans and the Democrats. ...
Sie and hir are inflected forms of a proposed gender-neutral third person singular personal pronoun for the English language (see gender-neutral pronouns). ...
In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a pro-form that substitutes for a noun phrase. ...
In North American social, cultural and political discourse, soccer mom refers broadly to a demographic group of women with school-age children. ...
The war on terrorism or war on terror (abbreviated in U.S. policy circles as GWOT for Global War on Terror) is an effort by the governments of the United States and its principal allies to destroy groups deemed to be terrorist (primarily radical Islamist organizations such as al-Qaeda...
Slang is the use of highly informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speakers dialect or language. ...
Badonkadonk is a slang term for a womans buttocks that are voluptuously large yet firm. ...
It has been suggested that Online diary be merged into this article or section. ...
For other uses, see Gay (disambiguation). ...
This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. ...
Posterization occurs when a region of an image with a continuous gradation of tone is replaced with several regions of fewer tones, resulting into an abrupt change from one tone to another. ...
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace is one of the best-known prequels. ...
Doh! is the comical catch phrase of Homer Simpson, from the long running animated series The Simpsons. ...
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox network. ...
The infamous wardrobe malfunction during Super Bowl XXXVIII, featuring Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake Wardrobe malfunction is a euphemism used to describe the presumed accidental exposure, because of a defect attributed to an article or articles of clothing, of what would be considered an intimate part or parts of the...
A genericized trademark (Commonwealth English genericised trade mark), sometimes known as a generic trade mark, generic descriptor or proprietary eponym, is a trademark or brand name which is often used as the colloquial description for a particular type of product or service as a result of widespread popular or cultural...
Aspirin or acetylsalicylic acid (acetosal) is a drug in the family of salicylates, often used as an analgesic (against minor pains and aches), antipyretic (against fever), and anti-inflammatory. ...
Crock-pot - Wikipedia /**/ @import /w/skins-1. ...
A laundromat (U.S.), launderette (British), Washette (Southeastern U.S.) or washateria (Southwestern U.S.) is a store where clothes are washed and dried. ...
Linoleum floor - a cheaper variety printed to appear to be wood Linoleum is a floor covering made from solidified linseed oil (linoxyn) in combination with wood flour or cork dust over a burlap or canvas backing. ...
// List of generic trademarks It has been suggested that this section be split into a new article titled List of generic trademarks. ...
In linguistics, an apronym is a word, which as an acronym or backronym, has a meaning related to the meaning of the words constituting the acronym or backronym. ...
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Acronym and initialism. ...
A protologism is a word that is created and used in the hope that it will become widely used and an accepted part of the language. ...
A retronym is a type of neologism coined for an old object or concept whose original name has come to be used for something else or is no longer unique. ...
Snowclone is a neologism used to describe a type of formula-based cliché which uses an old idiom in a new context. ...
A nonce word is a word used only for the nonce—to meet a need that is not expected to recur. ...
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 Grok, a verb formally meaning "to achieve complete intuitive understanding", that was coined by science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein in his novel Stranger in a Strange Land; McJob from Douglas Coupland's Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture and cyberspace from William Gibson's Neuromancer. Sometimes the title of the book will become the neologism. For instance, Catch-22 (from the title of Joseph Heller's novel) and Generation X (from the title of Coupland's novel) have become part of the vocabulary of many English-speakers. Also worthy of note is the case in which the author's name becomes the neologism, although the term is sometimes based on only one work of that author. This includes such words as Orwellian (from George Orwell, referring to his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four) and Ballardesque (from J.G. Ballard, author of Crash). Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle was the container of the Bokononism family of Nonce words. Another potential category would be words derived from famous characters in literature, such as Quixotic referring to Don Quixote (from Don Quixote de la Mancha by Cervantes), a Scrooge (from Dickens' A Christmas Carol), or a Pollyanna (from Eleanor H. Porter's book of the same name). Grok (pronounced grock) is a verb roughly meaning to understand completely or more formally to achieve complete intuitive understanding. It was coined by science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein in his novel Stranger in a Strange Land, where it is part of the fictional Martian language and introduced to English...
Intuitive understanding is comprehension without any necessary contemplation or explanation. ...
Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ...
The term writer can apply to anyone who creates a written work, but the word more usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, or those who have written in many different forms. ...
Heinlein autographing at the 1976 Worldcon Robert Anson Heinlein (July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was one of the most influential and controversial authors of hard science fiction. ...
Daniel Defoes Robinson Crusoe; title page of 1719 newspaper edition A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended fictional narrative in prose. ...
Stranger in A Strange Land Cover Stranger in a Strange Land is a 1961 science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein. ...
McJob is slang for a low-pay, low-prestige job that requires few skills and offers very little chance of intracompany advancement. ...
Douglas Coupland (born December 30, 1961) is a Canadian fiction writer, artist and cultural commentator. ...
Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, published in 1991, is the first novel by Douglas Coupland. ...
Cyberspace, a metaphoric abstraction used in philosophy and computing, is a (virtual) reality which represents the Noosphere/Popperian cosmology#Worlds 1, 2 and 3 both inside computers and on computer networks. ...
William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948, Conway, South Carolina) is an American science fiction author. ...
Neuromancer (ISBN 0006480411), by William Gibson, is the most famous early cyberpunk novel and won the so-called science-fiction triple crown (the Nebula Award, the Philip K. Dick Memorial Award, and the Hugo Award) after being published in 1984. ...
Catch 22 can refer to: A book by Joseph Heller, or the movie based on the book; see Catch-22. ...
(May 1, 1923 – December 12, 1999) was an American satirist best remembered for writing the satiric World War II classic Catch-22. ...
Generation X is a term for a cohort of people born following the peak of the post-World War II baby boom, especially in Canada and the United States. ...
Orwellian describes a situation, idea, or condition that George Orwell identified as being inimical to the welfare of a free-society. ...
Eric Arthur Blair (June 25, 1903 — January 21, 1950), better known by the pen name George Orwell, was a British author, and journalist. ...
Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) is a dystopian novel written by the English writer George Orwell and first published by Secker and Warburg in 1949. ...
James Graham Ballard (born November 18, 1930 in Shanghai) is a British novelist. ...
Crash is a novel by J. G. Ballard first published in 1973 about a subculture of people who are sexually aroused by car crashes. ...
Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut Jr. ...
Cats Cradle is a 1963 science fiction novel by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. ...
Bokononism is the fictional religion practiced by many of the characters in Kurt Vonneguts novel Cats Cradle. ...
Statues of Don Quixote (left) and Sancho Panza (right) Don Quixote de la Mancha (pronounced /don kixote ðe la mantʃa/) is a novel by the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes. ...
Don Quixote de la Mancha (now usually spelled Don Quijote by Spanish-speakers; Don Quixote is an archaic spelling) (IPA: ) or El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha (The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha) is a novel by the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. ...
Statues of Don Quixote (left) and Sancho Panza (right) Don Quixote de la Mancha (IPA: ) is a novel by the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. ...
Cervantes can refer to: Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote Francisco Cervantes de Salazar, 16th-century man of letters Cervantes, Ilocos Sur, a municipality in the Philippines Cervantes, a town in Western Australia Cervantes de Leon, a character in the Soul Calibur series of fighting games This is a...
Scrooge is the surname of Ebenezer Scrooge, the selfish and miserly protagonist of Charles Dickens 1843 novella A Christmas Carol. ...
Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (February 7, 1812 – June 9, 1870), pen-name “Boz”, was an English novelist of the Victorian era. ...
A Christmas Carol (full title: A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being A Ghost Story of Christmas) is Charles Dickens little Christmas Book first published on December 17, 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. ...
Pollyanna is a 1913 novel by Eleanor H. Porter that has become a classic of childrens literature. ...
Eleanor Hodgeman Porter (December 19, 1868 - May 21, 1920) was a U.S. novelist. ...
Lewis Carroll's poem "Jabberwocky" has been called "the king of neologistic poems" as it incorporated some dozens of invented words. The early modern English prose writings of Sir Thomas Browne 1605-1682 are the source of many neologisms as recorded by the OED. Lewis Carroll. ...
Jabberwocky is a poem (of nonsense verse) found in Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871) by Lewis Carroll. ...
Sir Thomas Browne (October 19, 1605 – October 19, 1682) was an English author of varied works that disclose his wide learning in diverse fields including medicine, religion, science and the esoteric. ...
// Events April 13 - Tsar Boris Godunow dies - Feodor II accedes to the throne May 16 - Paul V becomes Pope June 1 - Russian troops in Moscow imprison Feodor II and his mother. ...
Events March 11 – Chelsea hospital for soldiers is founded in England May 6 - Louis XIV of France moves his court to Versailles. ...
The Oxford English Dictionary print set The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is a dictionary published by the Oxford University Press (OUP). ...
Quotation - "Yesterday's neologisms, like yesterday's jargon, are often today's essential vocabulary."
- – Academic Instincts, 2001[1]
To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...
See also A buzzword (also known as a fashion word or vogue word) is an idiom, often a neologism, commonly used in managerial, technical, administrative, and sometimes political environments. ...
Doublespeak is language deliberately constructed to disguise or distort its actual meaning, often resulting in a communication bypass. Such language is associated with governmental, military, and corporate institutions. ...
An eponym is the name of a person, whether real or fictitious, which has (or is thought to have) given rise to the name of a particular place, tribe, discovery or other item. ...
A euphemism is an expression intended by the speaker to be less offensive, disturbing, or troubling to the listener than the word or phrase it replaces, or in the case of doublespeak to make it less troublesome for the speaker. ...
To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...
Newspeak is a fictional language in George Orwells novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. ...
Langmaker is a website that is dedicated to linguistics. ...
Look up Portmanteau word in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
In biology, mutations are permanent, sometimes transmissible (if the change is to a germ cell) changes to the genetic material (usually DNA or RNA). ...
Look up onomatopoeia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
Propaganda is a specific type of message presentation directly aimed at influencing the opinions or behavior of people, rather than impartially providing information. ...
A retronym is a type of neologism coined for an old object or concept whose original name has come to be used for something else or is no longer unique. ...
The phrase Siamese twins in the context of the English language refers to a pair or grouping of words that is often used together as an idiomatic expression and usually conjoined by the words and or The expression take it or leave it is an example of Siamese twins. ...
Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...
Look up Malapropism in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
Etymology is the study of the origins of words. ...
This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ...
External links, resources, references
English - Fowler, H.W., "The King's English," Chapter I. Vocabulary, Neologism, 2nd ed. 1908.
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Wiktionary Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ...
Wiktionary is a Wikimedia Foundation project intended to be a free wiki dictionary (hence: Wiktionary) (including thesaurus and lexicon) in every language. ...
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