New Words in English - 5 

Here are more words and expressions that have been coined in recent years. Some can be found in official dictionaries; others may never make their way there, but new words will continue to appear as the English language adapts to innovations and trends.

• speed dating
  • A method of meeting a potential romantic partner by talking to a group of individuals at an organised event. Participants are rotated to meet each other for no more than eight minutes. They then move on to the next person. At the end they indicate whether they are interested in any of the people they have met.
    
    
• spinnish
  • The language used by spin doctors, spokes-persons, campaign managers, etc. when trying to present information in a favourable light.
    
    
• staycation
  • A vacation in which you stay at home and relax or visit places close to where you live.
    
    
• street food
  • Food prepared and sold by vendors in a street or a public location for immediate consumption.
    
    
• subprime / sub-prime
  • The adjective subprime describes a risky loan, or lending money at a higher rate of interest to borrowers who have a poor credit history.
    
    
• sudoku
  • A number placement puzzle consisting of a grid of nine 3-by-3 squares. Each row, column and square must contain only one instance of the numbers 1 to 9.
    
    
• tech neck
  • Wrinkles around the neck caused by looking down at phones, tablets, etc.
    
    
• textonym
  • A word produced by predictive text software when you press a combination of numbers on the keypad of a mobile phone.
    
    
• textspeak
  • Language used in text messages consisting of abbreviations, acronyms, initials, emoticons, etc.
    
    
• textual harassment
  • Sending text messages to mobile phones which insult or abuse people.
    
    
• tombstoning
  • Jumping or diving into water from a dangerously high place such as a hotel balcony, a cliff, bridge, wall, roof, etc.
    
    
• trashion
  • Blend of 'trash' and 'fashion'.
    Fashionable items created from old, used and recycled elements.
    
    
• travelator
  • A moving pavement or conveyor for transporting pedestrians, typically found in airports and underground stations.
    
    
• trekkie
  • A fan of the TV science fiction series Star Trek.
    
    


• tribal marketing
  • Marketing strategy which consists in using the social behaviour of certain groups ('tribes') of consumers (e.g. surfers, rappers) to promote a product or service. Very often used by clothing and accessory brands.
    
    
• triggar warning
  • A warning to shield people from ideas, subjects or material they might find offensive or distressing.
    
    
• troll / trolling
  • A person who is provocatively rude or insulting on the Internet in order to cause anger or conflict in an online community such as a blog, chat room or discussion forum. Fake online profiles are sometimes used to harass others.
    
    
• troll factory
  • A company or organisation that pays employees to pretend to be ordinary internet users and write online comments in favour of or against somebody. They often generate fake posts from fake social network accounts or websites.
    
    
• tweeps
  • Blend of 'Twitter' and 'peeps' (people).
    Users who follow you on Twitter.
    
    
• tweet
  • People who 'tweet' send short messages via the microblogging service Twitter.
    
    
• tweetheart
  • A user of the Twitter service who is very popular or admired, or with whom other users communicate a lot.
    
    
• tweet seats
  • Seats reserved in a cinema, theatre or concert hall for people who wish to send tweets to Twitter followers during the performance.
    
    
• twintern
  • Blend of 'Twitter' and 'intern'.
    A person, usually a student or recent graduate, employed by a company to promote its products or services on Twitter or other social media.
    
    
• twitterati
  • People who frequently use the social networking site Twitter.
    
    
• twittion
  • Blend of 'Twitter' and 'petition', a Twitter petition.
    
    
• uber
  • A word used to describe something as outstanding e.g. 'an uber-cool coffee shop" or "an uber-intelligent guy".
    
    
• unfollow
  • Stop receiving another's person's messages on Twitter.
    
    
• unfriend
  • Remove someone from your list of friends on social networks such as Facebook.
    
    
• unicorn company
  • A start-up company whose value has reached $1 billion or more in a short space of time.
    
    
• upperwear
  • Clothes visible during video calls when you are only seen from the waist up.
    
    
• upskill
  • Teach an employee new or additional skills.
    
    
• UX
  • Short for 'user experience'.
    
    


• vape / vaping
  • Simulate smoking by inhaling and exhaling vapour produced by an electronic cigarette or similar device
    
    
• videophile
  • Person who is very interested in watching videos and making recordings, and values high-quality results.
    
    
• viral marketing
  • Marketing strategy that consists in encouraging people to pass along information to friends, family and colleagues through e-mail messages, blogs, video-sharing, etc., so that the marketing message spreads like a virus.
    
    
• virtual happy hour
  • A group of friends or colleagues having a Zoom chat with a few drinks, each in their own home due to pandemic restrictions.
    
    
• vook
  • A combination of video, text, images and social streams in an electronic book.
    
    
• wave pool
  • A large swimming pool with a machine for producing waves.
    
    
• web rage
  • Anger or frustration as a result of difficulties or problems encountered when using the Internet.
    
    
• webinar
  • Presentation or seminar conducted over the web.
    
    
• weblish
  • A form of English that is used on the web (use of abbreviations, acronyms, small letters, absence of punctuation and hyphens etc.). Also known as : webspeak, netspeak, internetese.
    
    
• WFH
  • Working from home/ home-based teleworking. (Working outside the employers’ premises or workplace during the Coronavirus pandemic.)
    
    
• widget
  • Blend of 'window' and 'gadget'.
    A small application or tool that can be installed and executed within a web page.
    
    
• wiki
  • A web page which allows multiple users to contribute to its content. The most well-known is the website Wikipedia.
    
    
• winterval
  • Blend of 'winter' and 'festival'. A festival that takes place in winter.
    
    
• wordle
  • The words of a piece of text arranged into a sort of graphic. The more frequent a particular word appears in the text, the bigger its size in the wordle. (Also called 'word cloud' or 'text cloud'.)
    
    
• zoombombing
  • Breaking into conference calls etc. with graphic content, or the unwanted presence of a person on a video chat, usually in the meeting program Zoom.
    
    
• zumba
  • A fitness activity which combines lively international music with dance exercises.
    
    
• zumping (a blend of 'zoom' and 'dumping')
  • Breaking up with a boyfriend/girlfriend over video chat.