New tech, social media, food, and pop culture are behind the latest batch of new words and definitions added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary. New entries include terms like “vibe coding,” “parasocial,” “Rickroll,” “yacht rock,” and “Sunday scaries.”
Food-related additions include “bao,” “chili crisp,” and “superfood.” Merriam-Webster explains that words are added only after demonstrating widespread, sustained use, making the dictionary a snapshot of how people communicate today.
Here are some other new additions:
•Cuffing season
•California sober
•Glow-up
•Promposal
•AGI (artificial general intelligence)
•Looksmaxxing
•Limerence
•Mandela Effect
•Shapewear
•Neckbeard
And speaking of new words ... every word that's in the Merriam-Webster dictionary was, at one point, a new word — which means you may be older than some of the words that you use every day. Merriam-Webster has an online feature called Time Traveler that lets users enter any year, like their birth year, and see the words that were first recorded in the dictionary at that time. The tool offers a fun look at how language evolves, from pop culture terms to technology buzzwords.