Merriam-Webster adds 'tweet,' other new words

Updated on: Saturday, August 27, 2011

Here's something for your Twitter feed: "Tweet" has earned a spot in the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary.

Used as both a noun and a verb, the word describing a post made on the online Twitter message service is among more than 100 new terms revealed today for the dictionary publisher's newest edition.

"Tweet" takes its place among newly included words that reflect everything from high-tech advances to the delicate nuances of family and social relationships.

The newcomers include overly involved "helicopter parents," for instance, and the "boomerang child" who's returned home in adulthood for financial reasons.

Maybe he's spending his days listening to "Americana" music, steering clear of that lonely "cougar" across the street and hanging out a lot with his best buddy, shaking off jokes that they're in a "bromance." And, of course, he "tweets" every detail of it.

The wordsmiths at the Springfield, Massachusetts-based dictionary publisher said they picked the new entries after monitoring their use over several years and watching for references in a variety of sources, including mainstream media outlets.

Some terms, like tweet, rocketed into prominence in recent years as celebrities, politicians and news outlets have embraced Twitter to immediately reach a worldwide audience.

"Even if people had no interest or possible chance of getting a Twitter account themselves, they now have to know what 'tweet' means, and that's really why it's in the dictionary," said Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster's editor at large.

"It's not just because the users of that service are so numerous, although they are. It's because even the non-users have to know what that word means because they'll encounter it so often in everyday use," he said.

A London-based competitor, the Oxford English Dictionary, also recognised the growing service when it added "retweet" to its Oxford English Concise version this summer with other technology-influenced terms like cyberbullying, which already had a spot in Merriam-Webster's dictionary.

Merriam-Webster adds 'tweet,' other new words

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