There are over 170,000 words currently in use in the English language. Yet every year, about a thousand new words are added to the Oxford English Dictionary. Where do they come from, and how do they make it into our everyday lives?
Learn all the different ways that words can be borrowed, redefined, remixed, invented, promoted, and shared in this TED Ed lesson by Marcel Danesi, with animation by Together: Where do new words come from? Plus, some history behind the words clone, villain, meme, and more.
Related watching elsewhere: Mysteries of Vernacular.Related watching on this site: More word-related videos, including Making Sense of Spelling, how streets, roads, and avenues are different, and how one-word sentences work.
Bonus: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch and pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.
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