etymology - When does a word become a 'word'?





Creating a new word



The rule of thumb used to be that when a word hit the Oxford Dictionary, it was considered to be an accepted word - this, however, seems to have transitioned into a lagging indicator in the last 5 years, primarily because so many new words are being created around the technological advances/services/products which seem to dominate our lives.


When does a word 'officially' become a word - usage, social impact, cultural acceptance, mass media propagation?




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