- I know what you're thinking.

Hey Jonathan, aren't all words made up?

Well the answer is yes.

So how does a series of noises become

well a word?

Well the answer's pretty simple.

It gets used.

It's true.

A word becomes legitimate or a real word

when it becomes an accepted part of the spoken

and printed language.

Take the Oxford English Dictionary

or OED, for example.

Since around 1857, this dictionary has used

a reading program to find appropriate quotations

for each word in the dictionary.

In the department, about 50 lexicographers

read almost every possible printed medium.

We're not just talking novels or newspapers here.

They'll also read TV transcripts, song lyrics,

magazines and stuff like that.

When they're reading, there on the lookout for new words.

Each time they discover something new,

they send it to a database.

From there, each potential new entry

is given to an editor.

This editor tracks the word's long-term use and popularity.

For Oxford, the rule of thumb is that a word

can only appear in the dictionary once it's met

what I'll call the triple five rule.

It's been in print five times

in five different sources

over a period of five years.

Oxford also searches for new words

using what they call the Oxford English Corpus,

a massive collection of published material

from across the internet.

This corpus contains almost 2.5 billion words

of 21st century English and they're adding to it

all the time.

While the specifics of this selection process might vary,

other dictionaries do the same thing.

The editors at Merriam-Webster

spend a couple of hours each day

reading all the published material they can get

their hands on and noting new or interesting changes

in language including new words.

While thousands of new words and uses

might make it into a dictionary each year,

some dictionaries also remove words.

These are words that may have been popular in decades

or even centuries ago that may as well not exist today.

For example, Merriam-Webster has cut sternforemost,

hodad, snollygoster, stylopodium and more.

While it might sound cruel to throw these words out,

we have to remember that dictionaries map English

as a living language.

So as English changes, so do its dictionaries.

Thanks so much for watching.

Have you invented a word that should be in the dictionary?

Is there a term that should make a comeback?

Let us know in the comments.

And while you're thinking it over,

I'll read this list of newly added words

that I literally have never looked at before.

Demosthenical, bestie, demobilized.

Really, that wasn't a word before?

Eticket.

Seriously?

I mean Disney Land's been around for, okay.

Impadilokalean.

Scientificness.

Seriously, we're letting that one in?