Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of Graph Search.
Concept
Neologism
Summary
In linguistics, a neologism (niːˈɒlədʒɪzəm; also known as a coinage) is any relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that nevertheless has achieved popular or institutional recognition, and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. Most definitively, a word can be considered a neologism once it is published in a dictionary. Neologisms are one facet of lexical innovation, i.e. linguistic phenomena that introduce new terms and meanings into a language's lexicon. The most precise studies into language change and word formation, in fact, identify the process of a "neological continuum": a nonce word is any single-use term that may or may not grow in popularity; a protologism is such a term used exclusively within a small group; a prelogism is such a term that is gaining usage but still not mainstream; and a neologism has become accepted or recognized by linguistic institutions.
Neologisms are often driven by changes in culture and technology. Popular examples of neologisms can be found in science, fiction (notably science fiction), films and television, branding, literature, jargon, cant, linguistics, the visual arts, and popular culture.
Former examples include laser (1960) from Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation; robot (1941) from Czech writer Karel Čapek's play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots); and agitprop (1930; a portmanteau of "agitation" and "propaganda").
Neologisms are often formed by combining existing words (see compound noun and adjective) or by giving words new and unique suffixes or prefixes. Neologisms can also be formed by blending words, for example, "brunch" is a blend of the words "breakfast" and "lunch", or through abbreviation or acronym, by intentionally rhyming with existing words or simply through playing with sounds. A relatively rare form of neologism is when proper names are used as words (e.g., boycott, from Charles Boycott), guy, dick, and Karen.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
Related concepts (23)
Jabberwocky
"Jabberwocky" is a nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll about the killing of a creature named "the Jabberwock". It was included in his 1871 novel Through the Looking-Glass, the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865). The book tells of Alice's adventures within the back-to-front world of Looking-glass world. In an early scene in which she first encounters the chess piece characters White King and White Queen, Alice finds a book written in a seemingly unintelligible language.
Blend word
In linguistics, a blend—sometimes known, perhaps more narrowly, as a blend word, lexical blend, portmanteau (pl. portmanteaux), or portmanteau word (pɔrtˈmæntoʊ, ˌpɔr(t)mænˈtoʊ)—is a word formed, usually intentionally, by combining the sounds and meanings of two or more words together. English examples include smog, coined by blending smoke and fog, as well as motel, from motor (motorist) and hotel.
English language
English is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family. It originated in early medieval England and, today, is the most spoken language in the world and the third most spoken native language, after Mandarin Chinese and Spanish. English is the most widely learned second language and is either the official language or one of the official languages in 59 sovereign states. There are more people who have learned English as a second language than there are native speakers.