Neologisms 2023 – New Words

neologisms /nɪˈɒlədʒɪz(ə)m/
noun. plural noun: neologisms
a newly coined word or expression

Every year, new words enter the dictionary, and 2023 is no exception, with a tidal wave of words being added to help define new and evolving concepts. From words shaped by the news of today to strange, little words relating to cake, aliens, and words themselves, here’s a selection that made it into the dictionary this year.

The internet:

The place where we all create new things every day, the internet of course, has provided us with loads of new words in 2023.

Deepfake – a word that has grown drastically in popularity recently due to the fast growth of artificial intelligence. A deepfake is a video of a person created by AI, where their face and/or body have been digitally manipulated so that they look like someone else. These fake videos are hard to distinguish from real videos, so the technique is most commonly used to spread false information online. However, the technique was originally created to be used in art and cinema.

Finsta – short for Finstagram, it is a mash-up of the term ‘fake Instagram’. It is used to refer to an Instagram account that is kept secret, usually so that a person can limit their interactions to only a close group of friends, making their Instagram posting more private.

Doomscroll is a word you may be familiar with from the days of lockdown. Despite being popularised in 2020, it is only this year that doomscroll entered the dictionary. The verb means constantly scrolling through social media and news sites, compulsively reading sad or anxiety-inducing content.

Smishing – ever received a scam text message? Now, there’s a word for it. Smishing is the practice of sending texts that pretend to be from reputable companies, with the intention of tricking the receiver into giving out their confidential information, such as credit card details.

Sexuality, identity and relationships:

Our understanding of sexuality and relationships is always expanding, and here are some new terms to help clarify things for you.

Abrosexual – the newest addition to the dictionary regarding sexual identity. It refers to a person whose sexual orientation is fluid or varies over time, with the prefix ‘abro’ coming from the Greek, meaning graceful and delicate, perhaps in reference to the fluctuation of their sexuality.

Folx – a variation of the word ‘folks’, folx has been used since the 90s as a gender-neutral term, but only very recently has it made its way into the dictionary. The X as a suffix can be seen in many LGBTQ+ words, such as the honorific Mx. rather than Mr. or Miss, and signifies gender inclusivity. (If you’re wondering how to pronounce it, the x in folx stands in for the ‘ks’ sound).

Nearlywed – copying the well-known term ‘newlywed’, nearlywed means exactly what it sounds like it means: a person in a relationship who is not yet married. It can be used to refer to an engaged couple, or simply a couple who don’t plan to marry but live together in a committed relationship.

Climate crisis:

A topic that looms large on the news, climate change has made its mark on our words.

Climate fiction – a new genre, dubbed cli-fi, that explores themes of climate change: fluctuating temperatures, rising sea levels, and the need to prevent these things can be found in these books.

Forever chemicals – chemicals that maybe don’t last forever, but certainly a long time. This term is used for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS for short, which has also just been added to the dictionary). These chemicals are everywhere: in fridges, nonstick pans, and flameretardant furniture. They degrade very slowly, lasting for hundreds of years in our environment.

Lifestyle:

On a lighter note, here are some words you might have heard at home or around the office.

Cakeage – modelled on corkage, a word that means a fee charged by a restaurant for bringing wine brought from outside; cakeage is its fun cousin: a fee for bringing cake the restaurant has not supplied itself. Ever had to pay for the waiters to serve your supermarket-bought birthday cake? Yep, that’s the cakeage fee.

Cape – a verb used to mean acting as a defender/supporter of someone/something. Presumably, this comes from the idea of a superhero.

 

Fun extras:

Tifo – coordinating banners, flags, or signs at a sports event to spell out a group show of support. The word originates from Italian, meaning ‘typhus’, a fever, because of the passionate (or feverish!) way people cheer their team on.

Antigram – like an anagram, except opposite. Antigrams are pairs of words or phrases that are anagrams of one another but which hold opposing meanings. ‘Listen’ and ‘silent’ are antigrams because they share the same six letters but mean contradictory things. Longer examples include ‘true lady’ and ‘adultery’, and ‘real fun’ and ‘funeral’.

Cromulent – an old-fashioned sounding word that is new to the dictionary in 2023. Cromulent is a neutral word, meaning acceptable, adequate, or satisfactory. So if those three words aren’t satisfactory enough, you might want to mix it up and use cromulent.

Aestel – more technical than the previous few words, an aestel is a kind of pointer used to keep a person’s place when reading a manuscript.

And finally, a change to an old classic:

UAP – this abbreviation stands for an unidentified aerial phenomenon; if you didn’t know, it’s the updated term for UFOs. UAPs are, as you might have
guessed, mysterious flying objects assumed to be spaceships. UAP doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.

Words, words, words!
The new words of 2023 help us better understand one another and the world around us. Here’s hoping that 2024 has more wonderful words around the corner.

Craven&ValleyLife Winter 23