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Where do new words come from? - Marcel Danesi

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39,543 Questions Answered

TEDEd Animation

Let’s Begin…

There are over 170,000 words currently in use in the English language. Yet every year, about a thousand new words are added to the Oxford English Dictionary. Where do they come from, and how do they make it into our everyday lives? Marcel Danesi explains how new words enter a language.

Scientists sometimes use ______ to name a new idea.

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Meet The Creators

  • Educator Marcel Danesi
  • Director Hector Herrera
  • Script Editor Alex Gendler
  • Producer Pazit Cahlon
  • Composer Adam Harendorf
  • Sound Designer Adam Harendorf
  • Associate Producer Jessica Ruby
  • Content Producer Gerta Xhelo
  • Editorial Producer Alex Rosenthal
  • Narrator Addison Anderson

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