How do new vocabulary words enter the English language?

Question

If you can provide some examples. Thanks!

Answer 1

Interactions with foreigners and their culture or language cause English speakers to notice: "Hey, we don't have a word for that." or "That's a neat sounding word; it sounds better than what we used to say." This interaction can be overseas, most often when we go there in great numbers, like to fight a war, or when they come here and bring their culture to ethnic neighborhoods. There was a time when the US was young and we sent more diplomats overseas than tourists, and in those days, they would bring back pieces of foreign culture, especially from Europe.

A good and surprising source of information can be the unabridged dictionaries that give word origins; some may be historic, from the oldest English writings, but many are new.
There have also been a lot of words invented here by "subcultures" like hippies, blacks, and criminals that became well-known and even popular.

Some words and their origins:

snitch, shiv, cop - criminals
ofay, aint, diss - black Americans
toke, snort, popper - hippies and drug-users
dork, brownnose, cool - teenagers
mocassin, teepee - native American
discoteque, camouflage, moustache, mirror, fiance - France
mosque - Moslem countries (Arabic)
salami, piano, espresso, soprano - Italy
honcho, zen - Japan
jodhpur, cashmere, Hindu - India
chai - China
burrito, sombrero, siesta - Mexico
polka - Poland
vodka, troika, soviet, sputnik - Russia
fjord - Norway
zeitgeist, spyglass(translated), frankfurter - Germany
kibbutz - Israel
shtick, schmuck, yenta - Yiddish speaking Jews
boomerang - Australia (aboriginal)
gin - Holland
wee - Scotland
fez - Morocco or Turkey (not sure)
wildebeest - South Africa
atom - Greece
Cossack - Kazakhstan
waltz, weiner - Austria
alpine - Switzerland
goulash - Hungary
gaucho, bolo - Argentina

Enough?

Answer 2

Any word would be an example, because every word entered the language at some time, right?

The way a word enters the language is through usage. It's just that simple. If enough people start using a word, it's part of the language.

The wikipedia article on Neologism should provide you with plenty of concrete examples.

Answer 3

Try the following two sites:
Merriam-Webster’s Open Dictionary. This site will give you the definition and also cast a light on the way people invent new words in the course of conversation.
www3.merriam-webster.com/opendictionary


The Oxford English Dictionary posts a different word everyday. Learn the definition, pronunciation, and its etymology.
http://www.oed.com/cgi/display/wotd/

Answer 4

It depends what you mean by vocabulary but if you refer to 'New' words then it's matter of introduction, common usage and parlance. Some examples would be:-

Following their invention a new word was introduced :

Aeroplanes

Common usage:

Ballpoint pens named after their inventor Laslo Biro now quite common to call a ballpoint pen

A biro

Parlance;

In the 1960's homosexuals used the word 'gay' being three letters g, a and y meaning 'Good As You'. However it was misunderstood by the population and the word 'gay' became adopted to describe them. We also got words like 'Loo' for toilet (From the French l'eau' meaning water) and 'boobs' for breasts.