Dictionary adds 'dad bod,' 'fluffernutter,' 'super-spreader' and 450 other new words - syracuse.com - Dictionary

From “dad bod” (”informal : a physique regarded as typical of an average father; especially : one that is slightly overweight and not extremely muscular”) to “fluffernutter” (”a sandwich made with peanut butter and marshmallow crème between two slices of white sandwich bread”), more than 450 new words are now listed as part of the English language in the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

The Springfield-based company announced Wednesday that it had added 455 new slang terms, expressions from online culture, pandemic phrases and other recent additions to the vernacular to its dictionary.

Among them are four words or definitions that came into use during the COVID-19 pandemic. There is “breakthrough,” which can now describe an infection in someone who is fully vaccinated against a virus. “Super-spreader” means “an event or location at which a significant number of people contract the same communicable disease.” There’s also “long COVID,” in which coronavirus symptoms can last for months on end, and “vaccine passport,” a document showing proof of inoculation.

But intermingled with the new pandemic words are much more casual turns of phrase — “TBH” (short for “to be honest”), “amirite” (short for “am I right?”), and “whataboutism” (a phrase describing responding to an accusation by claiming another offense is actually worse).

There is also “oobleck,” a mixture of corn starch and water, common in middle or elementary school science classes, that acts like a liquid at rest and a solid when pressure is applied to it.

Beyond “dad bod,” you can also now correctly describe a person as having a “faux-hawk.” Like a mohawk, the faux-hawk has a central ridge hair, but it differs in that the side of the head is not shaved. Instead, hair is slicked up or back to create the noticeable middle section.

“Just as the language never stops evolving, the dictionary never stops expanding,” Merriam-Webster said in announcing the updates. “New terms and new uses for existing terms are the constant in a living language, and our latest list brings together both new and likely familiar words that have shown extensive and established use.”

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