Plant-based, oat milk and pumpkin spice are among 370 words added to the Merriam Webster dictionary in September.
“The dictionary chronicles how the language grows and changes, which means new words and definitions must continually be added,” the publisher explained. “When many people use a word in the same way, over a long enough period of time, that word becomes eligible for inclusion. Here are a selection of words that met the criteria for our most recent update.”
In addition to those three widely used words, Merriam Webster added other food terms:
- Omakase: a series of small servings or courses (as of sushi) offered at a fixed price and whose selection is left to the chef's discretion.
- Ras el hanout: a mixture of ground spices that is used in northern African cooking and includes coriander, ginger, turmeric, peppercorns, cumin, cinnamon, cardamom, cayenne pepper, and other spices.
- Mojo: a sauce, marinade, or seasoning that is usually composed primarily of olive oil, garlic, citrus juice and spices (such as black pepper and cumin).
- Birria: a Mexican dish of stewed meat seasoned especially with chili peppers.
- Sessionable: alcoholic beverages having a light body and a lower-than-average percentage of alcohol.
- Banh mi: a usually spicy sandwich in Vietnamese cuisine consisting of a split baguette filled typically with meat (such as pork or chicken) and pickled vegetables (such as carrot and daikon) and garnished with cilantro and often cucumbers.
Also of interested to the food & beverage manufacturers were the inclusion of supply chain, shrinkflation and greenwash.
Some of the other additions include dumbphone, video doorbell, metaverse; slang words yeet (used to express surprise), janky (of very poor quality), lewk (a fashion look); and acronyms FWIW (for what it’s worth) and ICYMI (in case you missed it).
IMHO they’re all adorkable.
