Now, 'selfie', 'tweep', 'hashtag' part of the dictionary

19 May,2014 05:20 PM IST |   |  PTI

The latest edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary has added 150 new words, from selfie to poutine. 


New York: The latest edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary has added 150 new words, from "selfie" to "poutine."


Words like 'Selfie' have found a place in the latest Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary

Many of the words and terms relate to digital life and social media spoiler alert, hashtag and tweep while others are food-driven, including the Vietnamese staple pho and turducken, a boneless chicken stuffed into a boneless duck stuffed into a boneless turkey.

Merriam-Webster relies on a network of observers who track down word usage. Three or four senior editors make the final selections.

E-waste made it into the update. So did e freegan, one who scavenges for free food in store and restaurant trash bins as a way to reduce consumption of resources. Other new words in the Merriam-Webster Collegiate, along with the lookup database at Merriam-webster.com: Poutine, a French Canadian snack or side dish of french fries covered with brown gravy and cheese curds; steampunk, a literary genre with dress-up followers that mashes up 19th-century Victorian or Edwardian societies with steam-powered technology; unfriend, which joins defriend; and hot spot, a place where Wi-Fi is available.

Other words included crowdfunding, big data, baby bump, digital divide, dubstep, tweep, hashtag, fangirl and gamification, the process of adding game-like elements to something to encourage participation.

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