The team behind Merriam-Webster chooses a series of words every year that reflect the interests of modern-day society. Last year, they chose words like "Selfie" and "hashtag." This year, they're adding a lot more.
Dictionary company Merriam-Webster announced on Wednesday that it was adding more than 1700 new entries to the dictionary.
Many of these entries reflect new and developing cultural norms from the last year. For example, "Many [of the entries] embody our modern obsession with digital life (clickbait, NSFW, emoji)." TIME reported. "Others will teach future generations about the curious fashion choices of people living in the early 21st century (jeggings). And still others provide a linguistic term for our tendency to mishear Elton John lyrics as 'Hold me closer, Tony Danza' instead of 'Hold me closer, tiny dancer' (eggcorn)."
Check out a few of the new entries for yourself:
- NSFW (abbrev.) Definition: not safe for work; not suitable for work, used to warn someone that a website, email attachment, etc., is not suitable for viewing at most places of employment.
- photobomb (v.) Definition: to move into the frame of a photograph as it is being taken as a joke or prank.
- clickbait (n.) Definition: something (such as a headline) designed to make readers want to click on a hyperlink, especially when the link leads to content of dubious value or interest.
- WTF (abbrev.) Definition: what the f-, used especially to express or describe outraged surprise, recklessness, confusion or bemusement.
- net neutrality (n.) Definition: the idea, principle or requirement that Internet service providers should or must treat all Internet data as the same regardless of its kind, source or destination.
