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Est. 1828
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Wordplay Word History

Infographic: How a Word Gets Into the Dictionary

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dictionary infographic

This infographic is part of our series on slang in the dictionary. To read the article that accompanies this piece, click here.

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Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries.  Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Word Game Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
banana-mirrored
Contradictory Words Quiz Pick out which word means one thing…and the opp...
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Popular

Word History

15 Words That Used to Mean Something Different

'Ganef,' 'Galoot,' and More Historical Slang Terms We Love

Where does 'hello' come from?

10 Words from Place Names

'Handsome,' 'Geek,' and 8 More Words That Changed Their Meanings

See All

Wordplay

Rare and Amusing Insults, Volume 3

Top 12 Sophisticated Compliments

8 Words with Fascinating Histories

Flower Etymologies For Your Spring Garden

10 Hella Good U.S. Regionalisms

See All

Grammar & Usage

More Words You Always Have to Look Up

Commonly Misspelled Words

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

Using Bullet Points ( • )

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)

See All
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