Do you ever walk through the halls of your school and find yourself wondering what in the world your students are saying? You’re not alone. It seems as though students now have their own language, filled with abbreviations, acronyms and simply made up words. Don’t worry; Merriam Webster is here to help.
This year, nearly 2,000 new words were added to the unabridged dictionary, that provide a bit of a snapshot into modern culture. Take a look below and see if you are familiar with any of these new words:
athleisure n : casual clothing designed to be worn both for exercising and for general use
Bitcoin n : a digital currency created for use in peer-to-peer online transactions; also usually bitcoin plural bitcoins : a unit of this currency
dox transitive verb, slang : to publicly identify or publish private information about (someone) especially as a form of punishment or revenge
FOMO n, informal : fear of missing out : fear of not being included in something (such as an interesting or enjoyable activity) that others are experiencing
hella adv, slang : very, extremely
hella adj, slang : a lot of
ICYMI abbr — used to draw attention to something published or posted online earlier
naff adj, British, informal : lacking in style or good taste : vulgar and unfashionable
nomophobia n : fear of being without access to a working cell phone
trigger warning n : a statement cautioning that content (as in a text, video, or class) may be disturbing or upsetting
For more information on these and other new words added to the Merriam Webster Unabridged, visit their website.
