Words & WritingGreek → English
Neologism
/niˈɒlədʒɪzəm/noun
A newly coined word or expression.
The Greek roots
νέος
néos
new, young
λόγος
lógos
word, speech
Literally: “new word”
The story of the word
For most of its life the word was an accusation. French néologisme arrived in the eighteenth century as abuse aimed at writers who manufactured vocabulary instead of using the language they were handed, and English took it with the sneer included. Psychiatry then borrowed it for words invented by patients in psychosis, which are neologisms in the strictest sense and communicate nothing to anyone. The neutral modern meaning, a coinage that catches on, is the youngest of the three.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → French → English
- First recorded
- 18th century
Same family
neophyteneolithicdialoguelogic
In a sentence
Half the neologisms of that decade died with the products they were invented to sell.
Selfie was a neologism nobody would have bet on.