When I use a word . . . Medical slang: neologisms
BMJ 2023; 382 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.p1579 (Published 07 July 2023) Cite this as: BMJ 2023;382:p1579
- Jeffrey K Aronson
- Centre for Evidence Based Medicine, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Twitter @JKAronson
Coining new words
Most words in general use have arisen through natural evolution of the language, often by changing the meanings of existing words or by combining words.1 This is well illustrated by a sentence, contrived by the late Marghanita Laski, that would have been incomprehensible to Jane Austen, even though she would have known every word it contained: “She needed a new face, so she propped up the baby grand and reached for her compact.” No new words were needed to construct that sentence, merely old ones that had accrued new meanings with time. Other words are coined to meet particular needs at particular times.
When I consulted the lists of updates and additions to the Oxford English Dictionary that were published in December 2021,2 I found just over 700 items in four categories:
● 159 words that were completely new to the dictionary;
● 214 new sub-entries—words or phrases that were included under other headwords;
● 295 new senses …