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80 Scientific American, April 2019

Top 100

Sources of Words

3

3

1

1

5

5

Number of first records of new words

Number of first records

of new meanings

Cumulative times cited for

new words, new meanings

and exemplary word use

A Closer Look at

Key

Key

PEO

PLE

PU

BL

ICA

TIONS

Jou

rna

ls

Maga

zines

Newspapers

Refer

enc

e^

work

s

Word

Source

(^18601880190019201940196019802000)
Carburetor Homogenized
Space tourist (pay to go to space)
Digital cash (money transfer)
Pie crimper (baking)
Crash (computer)
Fractal
Log-on
Pharm
Chassis (motor cars)
Clone (animals)
43,000
3,000
Number of Times Cited for New Words,
New Meanings and Exemplary
Uses of Novel Words
ê,200 3,1001,000 20
Life Span of Source
Year born or founded
Year died or ended
Today
First record of a new word
First record of a new meaning
8,000
18,000
30,000
Cumulative New Words, Meanings and Uses
2000
Today
1800
1600
1400
1200
Year 1000
William Shakespeare playwright
Walter Scott novelist
Geoffrey Chaucer poet
John Trevisa translator
Robert
Mannyng
historian
Francis Bacon
philosopher
The Times (London)
Most frequently quoted
source: 42,840 citations
New York Times
Wycliffe Bible
(early version) group
of bible translations
George Eliot
novelist (only
female in top
100 sources)
Encyclopædia
Britannica
Cursor Mundi
historical poem
Daily Telegraph
Blackwood’s
Harper’s
Listener
Philosophical
Transactions
of the Royal
Society
Nature
Science
New Yorker
Scientic American
Acts of Parliament, Britain
3,000
4,000
5,000
2,000
1,000
SOURCE: OED ONLINE, OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, JANUARY 2019
http://www.oed.com
GRAPHIC SCIENCE
Text by Mark Fischetti | Graphic by Valentina D’Efilippo
First Words
Scientific American has brought
more than 1,000 new terms to light
Words originate everywhere. And Scientific American is the
place to find the earliest evidence of a surprising number of
them. The venerable Ox ford English Dictionary investigates
where each of its multitudinous terms first appears. Scientific
American has popped up as one of the dictionary’s most quot­
ed sources for new words, new meanings of existing words and
exemplary uses of novel words ( large graphic ). Since the maga­
zine debuted in 1845, it has provided the first record of 1,056
terms ( smaller graphic ). We tip our hat to The Times (Lon­
don) and William Shakespeare as the top sources.
Certainly the advancement of science and tech ­
nology, as reported in our pages, spawns
orig inal language. So does sharing
emerging ideas. Our next new
word? Stay  tuned.
The magazine is the earliest record for 208 words ( red ),
from “carburetor” in 1862 to “pharm” in 1994: a place
that raises genetically modified plants or animals to pro­
duce pharmaceuticals. Even more prevalent are 848 new
meanings for existing words ( gold ); in 1973 we used “crash”
to describe a computer that suddenly quits.
*Some publications include
earlier incarnations
with different names.