how do you get a word published?

Question

when new words are made, how does that word get into the dictionary? does there have to be a minimum number of people who use the word? why can't i just say, "i declare the word juzzle to mean better than good but not as good as great." and have it published?

Answer 1

you have to write something that is published an widely read. you will notice that the most influencial writers are the ones that have been able to add words to the english language. you of course are welcome to make up words, but unless people read it, hear about it or see it in wide-spead usage, it probably won't catch on. still, write a book or an article that enters the english literary canon and down the road people will probably use it as if it had been in the language all along...

Answer 2

Well, words (an example from the last two or so years is "podcast") start being used by people. Every so often (it varies from dictionary to dictionary--OED online updates 4 times a year), the editors of a dictionary will take note of which new words have entered the public lexicon and add it to the dictionary (often with a qualifier like "slang"). Some dictionaries allow the public to submit nominations for new entries, but they do check these entries to see if they're being used widely enough to justify a dictionary entry.

So, short answer? Start using juzzle, get your friends to use it, hope for the best.

Answer 3

A single appearance (or even several clustered appearances) of a word in print is not a guarantee that it will be included in the OED: the word may enjoy a brief flurry of popularity before disappearing for ever. Oxford Dictionaries record how the English language is used by a large number of people over a reasonable period of time, and many "coinages" never attain any kind of currency. If "e-tailer" proves to be a useful abbreviation for a company selling through electronic media, it will be taken up by other writers, and usage and understanding of the term will spread.

So researching a new word also involves looking for evidence beyond the Incomings database, to gain a rounded picture of the currency the word enjoys. Sources such as Internet databases, subject-specific glossaries, and the Dictionary's paper files (which include thousands of contributions from members of the public from throughout the English-speaking world) are searched for occurrences of "e-tailer". I am interested not only in the frequency of occurrences, but also in the time-span and variety of sources in which they appear. The decision on whether to draft a word for inclusion does not rest with me (as the editor responsible for the word), but depends upon the weight of the evidence gathered. A rule of thumb is that any word can be included which appears five times, in five different printed sources, over a period of five years.

The "five-year" aspect of the rule can result in a timelag between the first use of a word and its first appearance in the Dictionary; but it also ensures that a great deal of care is taken in recording the true nature of the word. However it is often clear long before the five-year period is up that a word is generally current; in such cases we include the word as quickly as possible.

Perhaps surprisingly, in the case of "e-tailer" the five-year rule has worked well. My researches on the internet have turned up a use of the word in 1995; and there are more than twenty-five uses, from over fifteen different sources, on Incomings alone. "E-tailer" is therefore "draftworthy", and I can set about assembling an entry.

The Oxford English Dictionary provides as exhaustive a picture as possible of each of the words it contains. In drafting a new entry for the Dictionary, I have to be as rigorous with the documentation and other aspects of the entry as the scholars and philologists who contributed to the Dictionary over past decades. It is not simply a case of answering the question "what does this word mean?" - although obviously I must do that: "e-tailer" must be also considered from several other points of view.

Answer 4

You don't get a word published in the dictionary. Words are invented/borrowed, etc. by people and eventually , if they become accepted, used all over the internet, in books, magazines, newspapers etc., then eventually it will get itself into the dictionary.

Juzzle is silly. Try again.

Answer 5

i don't know but i want 2 points either way. i deserve them because this interests me and i read all the above answers thoroughly