Germany: Dictionary adds 3,000 new words including 'ChatGPT'

Germany's Duden dictionary announced on Monday that it was introducing 3,000 new words into its latest edition, including TikTok and ChatGPT. Other tech terms like Hyperloop, OpenAI, and Ghosting were also added, as well as terms that have become popularized internationally like Triggerwarnung and Wokeness.

'Cooking, crises, and war'

Most of the new terms, however, have to do with "cooking, crises, and war," said Duden's chief editor Katrin Kunkel-Razum.

Words like Sushireis (sushi rice), Tahin (tahini), Gojibeeren, Salsiccia (Italian for sausage) and Mocktail have entered the lexicon, showing a growing taste for more diverse ingredients in the kitchen. There are also words that show the nexus of cooking and technology like Gemüsekiste (vegetable box) and Kochbox (cooking box), highlighting the increasing popularity of home-delivery produce and meal kits.

New climate change related terms have also been added, such as Extremwetterereignis (extreme weather event) and Klimakleber (climate gluer), the latter of which refers to protestors who glue themselves to airport runways and roads to protest the use of fossil fuels.

Current events like Ukrainekrieg (war in Ukraine) and Russlandsanktion (Russia sanction) are also well represented amongst the thousands of new words.

A lexicon for the pandemic

Kunkel-Razum said it was interesting to see which COVID-19-related words would stick around after lockdowns were lifted and travel bans dropped. 

"We discussed the coronavirus vocabulary intensely," she said, adding that it was "clearer" now what would stick around than it had been in 2020.

Impfzertifikat (vaccination certificate), Coronaleugner (COVID-19 conspiracy theorist), Distanzunterricht (distancing learning), and Virusvariante (virus variant) will all be listed in the dictionary for the first time.

Removed words show changing times

Some words that are considered archaic or irrelevant to modern times will no longer be found in the Duden dictionary. These include Juckergeschirr, a word that refers to bridles and hitches for carriage houses, and Dampfradio, a now seldom-used nickname for a 1950s-style radio.

Also being removed is UMTS-Handy, a name that was given to some times of 3G capable smartphones.

Asked which new words were her favoite, Kunkel-Razum said it was "difficult to answer, because there are so many beautiful, original, important words." However, she said, she had a particular affection for words that had been removed from the dictionary years earlier only to experience a revival. In this case, Hackenporsche, or "Heel Porsche" to refer to Germany's ubiquitous personal shopping trolleys that roll down at one's heels.

The editor said that their decision-making process was informed by scanning hundreds of thousands of pages of periodicals and other texts for popular new words.

Edited by: Richard Connor