Word of the Day

: January 14, 2017

neologism

noun nee-AH-luh-jiz-um

What It Means

1 : a new word, usage, or expression

2 : (psychology) a new word that is coined especially by a person affected with schizophrenia and is meaningless except to the coiner

neologism in Context

The novelist's latest book is peppered with numerous slang words and neologisms that might not be familiar to some readers.

"Borrowing a friend's neologism, [the British writer Simon] Parkin uses the term 'chronoslip' to describe the way video games affect one's sense of time, numbing one to its passing." — Christopher Byrd, The Washington Post, 31 July 2016

Did You Know?

The English language is constantly picking up neologisms. In recent decades, for example, computer technology has added a number of new terms to the language. Webinar, malware, netroots, and blogosphere are just a few examples of modern-day neologisms that have been integrated into American English. The word neologism was itself a brand-new coinage in the latter half of the 18th century, when English speakers borrowed the French term néologisme. The word's roots are quite old, ultimately tracing back to ancient Greek neos, meaning "new," and logos, meaning "word."