Dictionary Adds Words Like ‘Woot’ And ‘Sexting’

Periodically, the Concise Oxford English Dictionary comes out with an updated, printed version of their publication. New words are added and definitions are revamped, as is the case with their twelfth edition. Words like “woot” and “sexting” are now officially words.

There are over 400 words being added to this addition, with quite a few web-based words in the mix. “Retweet,” “cyberbullying,” “noob,” and “textspeak” are among them. Does this mean I should update my personal computer’s dictionary now, too? Because every one of those words is showing up as an error as I type them.

Other words are having their definitions lengthened, such as “follower” and “friend.” The latter of the two words makes me think of a post that a friend placed on Facebook, saying that Facebook is a place to share information with people you don’t know. I don’t remember which friend posted it. More than likely it’s someone I don’t know.

Oxford updates its information online much more often than in print, so most of these definitions have already been published on the web. Now, however, when someone calls you on something not really being a word, all you have to do is pull out the dictionary. Or your smart phone.

Read more about these words we call noobs here.