The Merriam-Webster unabridged dictionary has added 1,700 new entries, including Internet slang words such as "emoji" and "meme."
Merriam Webster defines "emoji" as "any of various small images, symbols, or icons used in text fields in electronic communication (as in text messages, e-mail and social media) to express the emotional attitude."
"Meme" is defined as "an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture."
Other modern colloquialisms that have been introduced to the Merriam-Webster dictionary are "photobomb," which means to enter a frame of a picture as a prank or a joke; and "clickbait," or something designed to make a reader click a hyperlink.
Aside from these, Merriam-Webster also added to its vocabulary online text abbreviations such as "WTF" (which stands for "What the f***") and "NSFW" (which stands for "Not Suitable For Work.")
It can be recalled that last year, Merriam-Webster also added "selfie" and "hashtag" to its vocabulary index.
The new terms this year were not limited to online lingo. Some pertained to food, such as the sandwich cookie "macaron," the pungent sauce "sriracha," the froth that forms on top of an espresso called "crema" and the Mexican dish called "chilaquiles."
Some other new terms in the Merriam-Webster dictionary were derived from foreign languages such "Hsaing-waing," which means a traditional Burmese musical ensemble, and "slendro," which is an Indonesian musical term.
Other more serious terms added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary this year include "net neutrality," "neurofeedback," "dark money," and "palliative care."
Aside from adding 1,700 new words, Merriam-Webster also modified 200 of its existing entries.
Merriam-Webster requires words to be substantially cited in a wide range of publications over a considerable period of time before adding these terms to its dictionary.
