Merriam-Webster is the US’s oldest dictionary publisher — their history stretches back to 1831 — but in 2023 their rizz has officially been goated. 690 new words have been added to the Merriam-Webster lexicon as part of the company’s monthly dictionary update, and among them are nouns like “rizz,” adjectives like “goated” and “bussin” and verbs like “simp.”
Apart from its glorious slang additions, Merriam-Webster has also added words and phrases from the digital worlds to its lineup. These encompass the AI space (“generative AI,” “large language model”) and the world of gaming (“cutscene,” “nerf,” “rage quit) among others. There are also plenty of terms from topics as wide-ranging as “culture and society” (“thirst trap,” “‘grammable,” “edgelord”) to business (“meme stock,” “girlboss”).
“Signs of a healthy language include words being created, words being borrowed from other languages, and new meanings being given to existing words,” Merriam-Webster said in a blog post announcing the additions. “Based on our most recent research, we are pleased to inform you that English is very (very!) healthy.”
Head on over to the Merriam-Webster blog to see all 690 of the additions for yourself.
Elsewhere, Meta has announced that it will soon be bringing generative AI-assisted image editing with new tools like “restyle” and “backdrop” to Instagram.
