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 appearing only in James Joyce's Finnegans Wake until Murray Gell-Mann used it to name a new class of subatomic particle. The use of the term nonce word in this way was apparently the work of James Murray, the influential editor of the Oxford English Dictionary. 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. ... Nonce means for the present time or for a single occasion or purpose, although the word is not often found in general use. ... Quarks are one of the two basic constituents of matter in the Standard Model of particle physics. ... James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (February 2, 1882 – January 13, 1941) was an expatriate Irish writer and poet, widely considered to be one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Murray Gell-Mann at Harvard University Murray Gell-Mann (born September 15, 1929) is an American physicist who received the 1969 Nobel Prize in physics for his work on the theory of elementary particles. ... A subatomic particle is a particle smaller than an atom: it may be elementary or composite. ... Sir James Augustus Henry Murray (1837-1915) was a Scottish lexicographer and philologist. ... An Editor is a person who prepares text—typically language, but also images and sounds—for publication by correcting, condensing, or otherwise modifying it. ... The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is a comprehensive dictionary published by the Oxford University Press (OUP). ...

Nonce words frequently arise through the combination of an existing word with a familiar prefix or suffix, in order to meet a particular need (or as a joke). The result is not a non-word: although it would not be found in any dictionary, it is instantly comprehensible (e.g., bananular). If the need recurs (or the joke is widely enjoyed), nonce-words easily enter regular use (initially as neologisms) just because their meaning is obvious. Look up prefix in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Suffix has meanings in linguistics, nomenclature and computer science. ... A joke is a short story or short series of words spoken or communicated with the intent of being laughed at or found humorous by the listener or reader. ... ... Bananaphone is the name of a childrens album, as well as a humorous song by Raffi, released in 1994. ... A neologism is 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. ...

Examples

• Clopen set, in topology, refers to sets which are both open and closed.
• Cromulent - valid, legitimate, and apt, used in an episode of The Simpsons.
• Slithy - a portmanteau of "slimy" and "lithe"; used by Lewis Carroll in Jabberwocky.
• Unidexter - a one-legged person. Coined by comedian Peter Cook in One Leg Too Few.
• Aqueosalinocalcalinoetaceoaluminiumosecupreovitriolic, one of the English language's longest words according to the book The Dictionary, was used once in describing a particular British aquarium's water.
• Surlecultant in French, meaning that gets you to sit down in a rather vulgar manner
• Frood - a really amazingly together guy, used by Douglas Adams in the Hitchhiker's Guide.

In topology, a clopen set (or closed-open set) in a topological space is a set which is both open and closed. ... Topology (Greek topos, place and logos, study) is a branch of mathematics concerned with spatial properties preserved under bicontinuous deformation (stretching without tearing or gluing); these are the topological invariants. ... Several memes (often neologisms) that started on The Simpsons have now become mainstream words or sayings. ... The Simpsons is the longest-running American animated television series and overall sit-com, with 17 seasons and 366 episodes since it debuted on December 17, 1989 on FOX. The TV series, created by Matt Groening, is a spinoff of a series of animated shorts originally aired on The Tracey... Look up Portmanteau in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Photograph of Lewis Carroll taken by himself, with assistance Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (January 27, 1832 – January 14, 1898), better known by the pen name Lewis Carroll, was a British author, mathematician, logician, Anglican clergyman and photographer. ... Jabberwocky or ykcowrebbaJ is a poem (of nonsense verse) found in Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll. ... Peter Edward Cook (November 17, 1937 – January 9, 1995) was an English satirist, writer and comedian who is widely regarded as the father of the British satire boom of the 1960s. ... One Leg Too Few is a famous comedy sketch written by Peter Cook and performed by Cook and Dudley Moore. ... There are endless debates over what is the longest word in English, demonstrating that the idea of what constitutes a word is not as straightforward as it seems. ... A 335,000 U.S. gallon (1. ... Wiktionary has a definition of: Frood Frood is a noun, a neologism of the author Douglas Adams that appears in his trilogy, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. ... Douglas Noël Adams in an undated publicity photograph by Jill Furmanovsky. ... The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy originated as a 1978 radio comedy series written by Douglas Adams. ...

See also

• Hapax legomenon
• Sniglet