20 of the Newest Words in English

It might seem like English is a pretty well-established language, but new words are being made up all the time! If a new kind of technology is invented, its name needs to go in the dictionary. When new slang words pop up, we toss those in, too. Sometimes, words are even adopted into English from other languages.

Dictionary editors are constantly monitoring academic journals, social media, newspapers, blog posts…pretty much any kind of published writing to search for new words or new meanings of existing words.

But how does a new word actually make it into the dictionary? It’s not like someone says a new word and *poof* the next day it appears in Merriam-Webster.

According to Merriam-Webster, a word qualifies for an official entry when it has appeared frequently in “a wide range of publications over a considerable period of time.” The dictionary states, “Specifically, the word must have enough citations to allow accurate judgments about its establishment, currency, and meaning.”

Here’s a list of some of the NEWEST words in English! All of these were added to Merriam-Webster in 2024:

20 New Words in 2024

beach read

a usually light work of escapist fiction (such as a thriller or romance)

For You page

a social media feed that contains personalized content based on the user’s interests

street corn

grilled corn on the cob that is coated with a creamy spread (such as mayonnaise, sour cream, or crema) and garnished with toppings (such as lime juice, cotija cheese, and chili powder)

jam band

a band (especially a rock band) whose performances are distinguished by frequent and often lengthy jazzlike improvisation

true crime

a nonfiction genre of literature, film, podcasts, etc. that depicts and examines real crime cases

dungeon crawler

a video game where the gameplay is primarily focused on defeating enemies while exploring a usually randomly generated labyrinthine or dungeon-like environment

ultra-processed

containing or made primarily with highly processed ingredients including artificial additives (such as coloring, flavoring, and preservatives) and typically having high levels of fat, sugar, or salt

burrata

mozzarella formed into a ball-shaped casing that contains curds and cream

heat index

a value that indicates what the ambient temperature feels like to the human body and that is derived from a calculation using air temperature and relative humidity

spotted lanternfly

a hemipteran insect (Lycorma delicatula) of Asia and especially China that has grayish-brown forewings with black spots and red hind wings with black spots and that has been introduced to the United States where it is considered an invasive species and agricultural pest

shadow ban

to cause (a user or their content) to be hidden from some or all other users usually without the user’s knowledge

touch grass

to participate in normal activities in the real world especially as opposed to online experiences and interactions

snog

to kiss and caress (someone) passionately (Note that snog has been a British slang word for a long time but has only recently been added to the American dictionary.)

nepo baby

a person who gains success or opportunities through familial connections

cash grab

the greedy pursuit of an opportunity for making money especially when done without regard for ethics, concerns, or consequences

creepy-crawly

an organism—such as a spider, beetle, or cockroach—that typically crawls along close to or on the ground and is often considered unwanted or unpleasant

late capitalism

the current stage of capitalism that began in the second half of the 20th century and that is characterized by globalization, the dominance of multinational corporations, broad commodification and consumerism, and extreme wealth inequality

brekkie

breakfast (Like snog, brekkie was a British slang term before it made its way to America.)

child-free

without children: not including or allowing children OR not having children especially by choice

single-use

intended or designed to be used once and then discarded

Prescriptive vs. Descriptive

There are two main schools of thought when it comes to English grammar: the prescriptivists and the descriptivists. Spoiler alert: dictionaries are descriptivist.

Prescriptivists want to define all the rules and make everyone follow them. They want detailed style guides, hard-and-fast standards, and no room for doubt when it comes to grammar. These people will correct your spelling, word use, and punctuation no matter how casual the conversation is.

On the other side of the spectrum are the descriptivists. These folks want to listen and observe how everyone is naturally using English. They want the people who are casually speaking and writing to dictate the “rules” of the language. It’s not that they don’t want any rules; they are simply much more relaxed in how often those rules change.

Here’s an example to show the difference between prescriptivists and descriptivists:

Random person: “When he told that joke, I literally died.”

Prescriptivist: “You used the word literally incorrectly. Clearly you did not actually die because you’re standing here telling me about it.”

Descriptivist: “It’s interesting that the meaning of literally is changing like that! It used to mean ‘in a literal manner,’ but judging by the way you used it just now, it can also mean ‘in a figurative manner.'”

Most grammarians fall somewhere between an absolute prescriptivist and a completely hands-off descriptivist. It’s a sliding scale, and people usually have certain rules that they’re prescriptive about and others that they’re more descriptive about. For example, I tend to be a prescriptivist when it comes to punctuation: There are right and wrong places for a comma in a sentence. With slang terms, however, I find it impossible to be anything but descriptive.

Dictionaries are almost completely descriptive. They analyze the language, study how people are using it, and report back by adding new words and meanings to the entries. You’ll never see Merriam-Webster tell people to stop using a certain word because it’s not officially a word. Instead, they’ll listen to find out if the word is being used frequently enough, and if it is, they’ll add it to the dictionary. They’re describing how the language IS being used, not prescribing how it SHOULD be used.

In fact, the president of Merriam-Webster has said, “The one constant of a vibrant living language is change. We continuously encounter new ways of describing the world around us, and the dictionary is a record of those changes.”

English will continue to grow and evolve, and more and more new words will be invented and added to the dictionary every year!

Source:

• “America’s Most Trusted Dictionary.” Merriam-Webster. Accessed October 31, 2024. https://www.merriam-webster.com/.