Scrabble Dictionary Adds 500 New Words
2022-11-19
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1Scrabble is a popular word game in which players put letters of the alphabet together to form words.
2It helps when a player remembers unusual words to use in the game.
3This month, the game is about to get more interesting with 500 new words and variations added to The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary.
4Some of the new words include stan, sitch, convo, zedonk, dox, and fauxhawk.
5They will be a part of the more than 100,000 words of two to eight letters in the dictionary.
6The book was last brought up to date in 2018 through a longstanding partnership between Hasbro, the maker of Scrabble, and the Merriam-Webster dictionary.
7Peter Sokolowski is Merriam-Webster's editor at large.
8He said the editors look at the often-updated online database at Merriam-Webster.com to expand the Scrabble dictionary.
9But Scrabble players only look for eight-letter words that help them clear their racks for 50 extra points.
10Sokolowski said the new word fauxhawk has the highest possible points for a new word.
11Fauxhawk is a haircut similar to a Mohawk.
12Embiggen, a verb meaning to increase in size, is among the unexpected.
13For example, "I really need to embiggen that Scrabble dictionary."
14Other eight-letter words include hogsbane, more commonly known as giant hogweed, and pranayam, a breathing technique in yoga.
15The new words include shorter versions of other words like guac for guacamole.
16And there are more variations in the use of nouns as verbs, like adulted and adulting.
17Sokolowski told the Associated Press, "We also turned verb into a verb so you can play verbed and verbing."
18Compound words are words created by combining two or more words.
19In the new dictionary, there are deadname, pageview, babymoon, and subtweet.
20So are words with "un," such as unfollow and unsub.
21They may sound familiar, but they were never in Scrabble's official dictionary.
22The new dictionary includes at least one old-sounding word that simply was forgotten for years: yeehaw.
23"Yeehaw is like so many of the older, informal terms.
24 They were more spoken than written, and the gold standard for dictionary editing was always written evidence.
25 So a term like yeehaw, which we all know from our childhood and in movies and TV, was something you heard. You didn't read it that often," Sokolowski said.
26The editors have also added many new words related to food.
27They include iftar, horchata, kabocha, mofongo, zoodle, wagyu, and queso.
28Scrabble players, however, only care about scoring more points with the words than their meaning.
29But if you want to know: Iftar is a meal taken by Muslims at sundown to break the daily fast during the holiday season of Ramadan.
30Mofongo is a traditional food from Puerto Rico.
31Horchata is a sweet drink and kabocha is a winter squash.
32For the rest, you will have to look them up yourself.
33In the last year or two, Scrabble has also removed more than 200 offensive words.
34They may, however, still be present in older Scrabble dictionaries.
35Sokolowski would not say what all the 500 new words were.
36He said the players should hunt them down on their own.
37And he added, "You've got some fun new words."
38So which new word is his favorite? "I like eggcorn," Sokolowski said, "because it's a word about words."
39The dictionary says eggcorn is a word or phrase that sounds like and is mistakenly used for another word.
40I'm Gregory Stachel.
1Scrabble is a popular word game in which players put letters of the alphabet together to form words. It helps when a player remembers unusual words to use in the game. 2This month, the game is about to get more interesting with 500 new words and variations added to The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary. 3Some of the new words include stan, sitch, convo, zedonk, dox, and fauxhawk. They will be a part of the more than 100,000 words of two to eight letters in the dictionary. 4The book was last brought up to date in 2018 through a longstanding partnership between Hasbro, the maker of Scrabble, and the Merriam-Webster dictionary. 5New words 6Peter Sokolowski is Merriam-Webster's editor at large. He said the editors look at the often-updated online database at Merriam-Webster.com to expand the Scrabble dictionary. 7But Scrabble players only look for eight-letter words that help them clear their racks for 50 extra points. Sokolowski said the new word fauxhawk has the highest possible points for a new word. 8Fauxhawk is a haircut similar to a Mohawk. Embiggen, a verb meaning to increase in size, is among the unexpected. For example, "I really need to embiggen that Scrabble dictionary." 9Other eight-letter words include hogsbane, more commonly known as giant hogweed, and pranayam, a breathing technique in yoga. 10The new words include shorter versions of other words like guac for guacamole. And there are more variations in the use of nouns as verbs, like adulted and adulting. 11Sokolowski told the Associated Press, "We also turned verb into a verb so you can play verbed and verbing." 12Compound words are words created by combining two or more words. In the new dictionary, there are deadname, pageview, babymoon, and subtweet. So are words with "un," such as unfollow and unsub. They may sound familiar, but they were never in Scrabble's official dictionary. 13The new dictionary includes at least one old-sounding word that simply was forgotten for years: yeehaw. 14"Yeehaw is like so many of the older, informal terms. They were more spoken than written, and the gold standard for dictionary editing was always written evidence. So a term like yeehaw, which we all know from our childhood and in movies and TV, was something you heard. You didn't read it that often," Sokolowski said. 15Other words 16The editors have also added many new words related to food. They include iftar, horchata, kabocha, mofongo, zoodle, wagyu, and queso. 17Scrabble players, however, only care about scoring more points with the words than their meaning. 18But if you want to know: Iftar is a meal taken by Muslims at sundown to break the daily fast during the holiday season of Ramadan. Mofongo is a traditional food from Puerto Rico. Horchata is a sweet drink and kabocha is a winter squash. 19For the rest, you will have to look them up yourself. 20Hunt them down 21In the last year or two, Scrabble has also removed more than 200 offensive words. They may, however, still be present in older Scrabble dictionaries. 22Sokolowski would not say what all the 500 new words were. He said the players should hunt them down on their own. And he added, "You've got some fun new words." 23So which new word is his favorite? "I like eggcorn," Sokolowski said, "because it's a word about words." 24The dictionary says eggcorn is a word or phrase that sounds like and is mistakenly used for another word. 25I'm Gregory Stachel. 26Leanne Italie reported this story for The Associated Press. Gregory Stachel adapted it for VOA Learning English. 27______________________________________________________________ 28Words in This Story 29variation - n. feeling or showing the effect of too much work, use, or effort 30informal - adj. the state of being poor 31standard - n. a level of quality or achievement that is considered acceptable or desirable 32______________________________________________________________ 33What do you think of word games like Scrabble? 34We want to hear from you. We have a new comment system. Here is how it works: 35Each time you return to comment on the Learning English site, you can use your account and see your comments and replies to them. Our comment policy is here.