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I think these are organized by the first time they appeared in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, not when they were first used. A word is typically in use for ye
by drewg123 8y ago
I think these are organized by the first time they appeared in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, not when they were first used. A word is typically in use for years before entering the dictionary.
It used to be a "thing" on some news shows to comment on what words had entered the new edition of the dictionary for that year, and I recall thinking "wow, I've been using that for years" many times.
- tsomctl 8y ago> When was a word first used in print? You may be surprised! Enter a date below to see the words first recorded on that year. Webster was born in 1758, and George Merriam was born in 1803, yet many of the entries are from before they were born.
- nkoren 8y agoThis. It says that "cosmic background radiation" dates to 1975, which is weird because that's 10 years after it was discovered. The Google ngram viewer shows it entering the literature in 1953.