The Fascinating Origins of 7 Invented Words (2024)

Any 90s kid—sorry, 90s adult—will remember Andrew Clements‘ Frindle, the classic middle grade tale of a defiant boy who invents a word just to spite his by-the-book English teacher. (The word, naturally, is Frindle.) Since this is obviously silly, made-up nonsense, the school intervenes to reinforce the notion that only the dictionary determines the proper use of language.But wait, you say, aren’t all words invented? Well, that’s exactly what we’re getting at. Here are just a few of the many words that authors had the good sense to make up.

1. Nerd

_{Image Via Eldacur.com}

TheodorGiesel, code name Dr. Seuss, is known for being hyper intelligent, politically astute, and child friendly. It isthen especially surprising that Seuss would invent the number one insult for too-smart kids, the bane of the middle-school hallway—nerd. One of theoriginal spellings of nerd is knurd, a word for someone who doesn’t like fun and also ‘drunk’ spelled backwards. Those youngIf I Ran the Zoo readers might not be sure what to make of this—you’re a nerd if you’re ever sober? Probably not.

2. Bedazzled

_{Image Via Neweasy.com}

We all know Shakespeare invented between four and five hundred words—and that’s only counting terms still in use today. Without his strong knowledge of Latin roots and his literary mind, we would have Twilightwithout ‘bloodsucking,’ Divergent without ‘dauntless,’ Gossip Girl without ‘gossip.’ (An alternate title might have been Rich People Lying to Each Other.)Shakespeare’s coinage of the word bedazzled, first appearing in The Taming of the Shrew, is an excellent case study of the way language evolves over time. While initially referring to sunlight striking particularly vibrant eyes, the word now calls to mind badly-rhinestoned jeans—arguably, the only way to rhinestone jeans.

3. Blurb

_{Image Via Booktryst.com}

You may not have heard of Gelett Burgess, but you’ve definitely heard the word ‘blurb,’ the most common term to describe the text snippets on a book jacket. The word has a surprising origin—the name of a sexy lady. In 1907, Burgess created the character Belinda Blurb, an alluring woman whose spot on the book cover was supposed to boost its sales. While there’s nothing particularly funny about the word itself, it is amusing to imagine thatBelinda Blurb was the most titillating name Burgess could invent for his fictional woman. (Since it was 1907, perhaps we’re just lucky her name wasn’tmore like Ermengarde.)

4. Boredom

_{Image Via Quotefancy.com}

The word ‘boredom’first appeared in Charles Dickens‘Bleak House, which sounds like the exact sort of dismal spot where boredom might take place. Before Dickens, the word ‘bore’ already existed as a verb, but there was no noun for the specific condition of being bored. Since boredom is such a commonplace human experience, one has to wonder what they called it before the invention of the word. Early philosophers sometimes dubbed it ‘the noonday demon,’a term that’s simultaneously more ominous and more accurate. Now all you high school students out there can say Dickens literally invented boredom and get away with it.

5. Chortle

_{Gif Via Wifflegif.com}

Lewis Carroll, author of the notoriously weirdAlice’s Adventures in Wonderland, was no novice at inventing words. His poem “Jabberwocky” opens: “twas brillig and the slithy toves / did gyre and gimble in the wabe.” You might not remember the last time you yourself gyred or gimbled, if such a thing is even possible. The reasonis simple—all words are inventions, but not all inventions catch on. (Take, for example, the goldfish walker or shoe umbrella.) The word ‘chortle,’ an amalgam of the words ‘chuckle’ and ‘snort,’ is one of Carroll’s more popular creations. We’re all probably grateful he didn’t go withsnuckle.

6. Utopia

_{Image Via Flickr.com}

Sir Thomas Moore entitled his most impactful workUtopia, a word with an exciting dual meaning: either ‘good place’or ‘no place,’depending on the translation. Considering the popular definition—a perfect society—this confusion seems both reasonable and appropriate. The irony comes in when you realize that Coca Cola’s 1990s beverage Fruitopia is a clear play on Moore’s word. Most likely, Moore’s utopia didn’t include a sugary beverage empire.

7. Tween

_{Image Via Interviewmagazine.com}

Though this word now describes children betweenearly childhood and the full-on teenage years, ‘tween‘ once implied a very different age range. Invented by J.R.R. Tolkien, the word initially described hobbits in their twenties (given that hobbits come of age around thirty-three). It’s worth noting that many human twenty-somethings have also not yet reached full maturity. Another example of how language evolves beyond its original context, tween conjures more images of braces and shopping malls than it does chucking rings into volcanoes.

_{Featured Image Via Englishlanguagefaqs.com}