How Are New Words Invented?

Every year, new words are added to the English language. We notice this happening most often when it comes to slang. In the twenty-first century, new slang words often spread frequently over social media, and many of them face scorn. But the creation of new words has always been part of language.

Though we encounter new words every year, it’s not often that we step back and think about how these new words are formed. There are a number of ways that new words are invented. Here are a few of them.

Adding prefixes or suffixes

English loves prefixes and suffixes. Countless words contain them, and students often learn them to help them understand new words that they encounter. It’s no surprise that prefixes and suffixes are often added to older words to create new ones. Most English speakers understand that “pre” means “before,” for example, so it’s easy for people to understand what you mean if you slap it in front of an existing word.

This process is called “derivation,” and it’s one of the most common ways that new words are formed in English.

Removing parts of a word

The opposite also happens. “Back-formation” is removing part of an old word to create a new word. Often this means removing a suffix or prefix, but it can mean removing other parts of words as well. An example of this is “edit,” which was formed from the word “editor” all the way back in 1791.

Compounding words

Many common words in English are compound words, i.e. words that can be broken down into smaller words that have their own meanings. One such common word today is “laptop,” which was formed from combining the existing words “lap” and “top” in comparison to another compound word: “desktop.” Compound words are often formed because people already know the meanings of the words being combined, making new compound words easy to understand even if they’re being encountered for the first time.

Like derivation, this is one of the most common ways of forming new words in English.

Changing the meaning of existing words

Sometimes, new words aren’t created at all. Instead, old words take on new meanings. This is called “semantic change.” These changes can happen in many ways and for many different reasons. Many of these words retain their old uses too. For example, when you use the computer, you probably use a “mouse.” Despite this newer meaning of the word, we continue to use it for the small animal as well.

Sometimes, however, older meanings are lost to time. “Gentle” used to mean that someone was born to a good family. There are traces of this meaning in words still used today, like “gentleman,” but modern English speakers rarely use the word “gentle” to describe the family someone was born to. Instead, the word has shifted to mean someone who is delicate and not harsh. This shift happened because people of noble birth were considered to have a gentle temperament, but we’ve lost the older meaning as the importance of someone’s lineage has waned over time.

Acronyms

Believe it or not, acronyms can sometimes become words in their own right. Common acronyms that are used frequently may eventually become so commonplace that people forget they stood for something in the first place. This has happened with words such as “laser” (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation), “scuba (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus), and “radar” (radio detecting and ranging).

Loan words

Another way English gains words is by borrowing them from other languages. Most people could list a number of such words: “piñata,” “tsunami,” “guru,” and so on. These words were originally foreign but were used often enough to become part of the English language. Sometimes, loan words become so ingrained in the language that people start to forget they were originally foreign words. Examples of this are the words “kindergarten,” which came from German, and “patio,” which came from Spanish. Even “beef” entered Middle English from Anglo-French.

Completely new words

Yes, sometimes new words can come completely out of thin air, but it’s not particularly common. Usually, words are created by using older ones. That makes communicating easier because people have hints about what the new word means. Plus, making up a word from sounds that used to be nonsense is difficult. Words created this way are less likely to stick around or be integrated into the language.

English is a living language that is constantly evolving in my ways. New words being added to the language is one of the most visible types of change. As the world changes, English must adapt and find new words to describe new ideas. These are just some of the most common ways that happens.