Neologism
newly coined word, phrase or meaning
In linguistics, a neologism (, ; also known as a coinage) is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that has gained popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language.
Neologisms are one facet of lexical innovation, i.e., the linguistic process of new terms and meanings entering a language's lexicon. The most precise studies into language change and word formation, in fact, identify the process of a "neological continuum": a nonce word is any single-use term that may or may not grow in popularity; a protologism is such a term used exclusively within a small group; a prelogism is such a term that is gaining usage but is still not mainstream; and a neologism has become accepted or recognized by social institutions.
Neologisms are often driven by changes in culture and technology. Popular examples of neologisms can arise and be found in nearly all aspects of human life and culture, from science to technology, to the arts, to religion, to fiction (notably science fiction), to films, to television, to commercial branding, to literature, to jargon, to cant, to linguistics and to popular culture.
Examples
Examples of neologisms are sorted by time.
19th century (and earlier)
utopia (1516), from Ancient Greek οὐ (ou, 'no') and τόπος (tópos, 'place')
typhoon (1588) from Chinese 台风 ('hurricane')
compute (1631) from Latin com- ('with') and putare ('to think')
origami (1880) from Japanese 折り紙 ('paper folding')
20th century (and later)
robot (1921), from Czech writer Karel Čapek's play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots);
agitprop (1930), from Russian агитпроп, a portmanteau of агитация (agitatsija, 'agitation') and пропага́нда (propaganda, 'propaganda').
laser (1960), an acronym of "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation"
ruguanxue (2019), from Chinese 入关学 (rùguānxué, 'breakthrough studies')
Background
Neologisms are often formed by combining existing words (see compound noun and adjective) or by giving words new and unique suffixes or prefixes. Neologisms can also be formed by blending words, for example, "brunch" is a blend of the words "breakfast" and "lunch", or through abbreviation or acronym, by intentionally rhyming with existing words or simply through playing with sounds. A relatively rare form of neologism is when proper names are used as words (e.g., boycott, from Charles Boycott), including guy, dick, Chad, and Karen.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Neologism” is newly coined word, phrase or meaning. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Neologism, newly and coined, not as a finished interpretation.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q130989. The Library of Congress control number is sh85148117. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1516, 1588, 1631 and 1880.
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This entry incorporates text from “Neologism” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.