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Dec 31, 2007
This week's theme
Newly coined words

This week's words
wiki
adultescent
commentariat
chav
carbon-neutral

Previous week’s theme
Words borrowed from other languages
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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

The new year in A.Word.A.Day begins with new words, relatively speaking. This week we'll feature words coined in the last decade or so. Of course, new year is an artificial date, the wheel of time keeps revolving, and just like that, new words are coined all the time. Some stay and enter the dictionaries while others are thrown off by the moving wheel.

When I say new words, I don't mean words coined in the last year. Lexicographers watch words for their stamina, to see if a word is going to stick around in the language, and only then add it to their dictionaries.

May you always find a word when you need it, in the new year!

wiki

(wiki) noun Pronunciation Sound Clip

noun: A collaborative Web site that can be edited by anyone.

[From Hawaiian wiki (quick). First citation of the word in English is from 1995, when programmer Ward Cunningham used it in naming his new software WikiWikiWeb.]

"BlogTO spilled the news about Torontopedia, the city's own wiki, just a few days ago, giving everyone a place to add to and edit things about the city. " Toronto Faves And Our Very Own Wiki; Toronto Star; Apr 30, 2007.

X-Bonus

The dust of exploded beliefs may make a fine sunset. -Geoffrey Madan, writer (1895-1947)

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