New Words in English http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~ling215/
Introduction
The following neologisms and novel uses of words in English were collected by members of the class Linguistics/English 215, Words in English: Structure, History and Use, taught by Suzanne Kemmer at Rice University. Over the course of the semester, students collected instances of words and word uses that appear to be new in the language. They defined the words, described their origin where possible, illustrated their use, and analyzed the words in terms of their structure and the types of word formation processes they exemplify.
The list below includes many different structural word formation types, including novel derivations, clippings, back formations, and compounding processes of various sorts. The words also exemplify a wide range of semantic/pragmatic phenomena such as metaphor, metonymy, euphemism, and eponymy.
The words on this page give a good picture of the creative aspects of word formation and use in present day English. Speakers do not confine themselves to existing, conventional units when using language; to express their exact meaning in a given context, they take advantage of the wide range of creative resources provided by their language. Many of these creations become more frequent and conventionalized over time. Looking at new words allows us to get a glimpse of lexical change in progress.
A
ANDROPAUSE (OR VIROPAUSE), n. The end of virility. [blend of virility and menopause
Context and Source: "andropause or viropause, the end of virility," (Newsweek 9/16/96)
ANIME, n. See JAPANIMATION.
ARTSY, adj. pretending to be artistic. Overly artistic. [Compound of arts + 'y' (adjectival ending, "have the characteristic of")]
A.S.S. GRADUATE, n. A long-winded person (who's attended the "American Sidebartending School"). [Lingo used by journalists covering the O.J. Simpson Civil Trial. Found in Newsweek]
AUDIOPHILE, n. One who loves and collects audio equipment and media [compound from L. audio 'hear' and G. phile 'loving']
Context and source: "Being an audiophile, I own an 8 track player, phonograph, cassette player, CD player, DAT recorder, and a Minidisc player." (Conversation)
AUTO "DENTIST", n. One who repairs dents, hail damage, and other types of minor damage on automobiles. ["dentist" to mean "one who repairs dents."]
Context and source: "Auto 'dentist' specializing in dents, dings, and hail damage; high quality, affordable rates,"advertisement painted on the auto dentist's car. (used by persons associated with car body repair--none phrase)
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B
BACK STORY, n. The events of a character's life prior to the start of a fictional story. Also used metaphorically to mean "background"[compound of "back" and "story"]
BAGGRAVATION, n. A feeling of annoyance and anger one endures at the airport when his bags have not arrived at the baggage carousel but everyone else's bags have [blend formed from words bag and aggravation].
Context and source: "Nancy couldn't help but feel baggravation as she watched other passengers get their luggage and leave the airport." (Internet)
BENEDICT, n. [alter, of Benedick] a newly married man who has long been a bachelor. [based on the Shakespearean character from Much Ado About Nothing]
Source: Word a Day
BFE , adj. Very far away: Beyond Fu**ing Egypt. also B.F.E., b.f.e. [Acronym. Egypt was chosen somewhat arbitrarily as a country on the opposite side of the world. Variant: Bomfoq Egypt]
Context and source: "My car is parked BFE!" (Conversation)
BIG-EYED, adj. One who eats when s/he is not hungry; greedy. [compound of big+eye+d 'adjective forming]
Context and Source: If I see food, I want to eat it. I'm so big-eyed. (Conversation)
BLADING, v. The act of rollerblading, or skating while wearing a modified version of rollerskates called rollerblades which have only one continuous line (a blade) of wheels on the underside of each boot [clip of verb rollerblading ].
Context and source: "I'm going blading around the inner loop if you want to come." (Conversation)
BRONCO BAG, n. Tarp material used to protect well-coifed TV types from sun or rain. [Lingo used by journalists covering the O.J. Simpson Civil Trial. Found in Newsweek]
BTW, conj. Shorthand method of expressing by the way, commonly used in office memorandums and email communications.
Context and source: "BTW, there's a diversity training class meeting at 1:00 in the conference room." (Memorandum at work)