Our language is constantly changing and expanding. As proof, take a look at this list that has the notable new words from the past century.

What word was added to the dictionary from your birth year? For me it's big hair and guerrilla theater.

  • 1920: chemical weapon, fascista
  • 1921: capital gain, sales tax
  • 1922: café society, gestalt
  • 1923: bathtub gin, demand deposit
  • 1924: malarkey, scofflaw
  • 1925: cosmic ray, Paul Bunyan
  • 1926: nervous Nellie, Protestant ethic
  • 1927: anti-Red, boondoggle
  • 1928: astronautics, drill team
  • 1929: Antilife, in-line engine
  • 1930: bathysphere, Hooverville
  • 1931: Jehovah's Witness, skid row
  • 1932: New Deal, Purple Heart
  • 1933: angiogram, barking mad
  • 1934: analytic philosophy, gestapo
  • 1935: dust bowl, parking meter
  • 1936: Anasazi, delta wave
  • 1937: blitzkrieg, pizzazz
  • 1938: electroshock, Rastafarianism
  • 1939: bloody mary, fancy-pants
  • 1940: hipster, paratroops
  • 1941: classical conditioning, existentialism
  • 1942: atomic reactor, C Ration
  • 1943: DDT, Joint Chiefs of Staff
  • 1944: banzai attack, rotator cuff
  • 1945: A-bomb, cold war
  • 1946: digital computer, freeze-dried
  • 1947: apartheid, cookout
  • 1948: air piracy, hydraulic fracturing
  • 1949: chlorofluorocarbon, methamphetamine
  • 1950: McCarthyism, radiocarbon dating
  • 1951: Fast-food, manic-depressive illness
  • 1952: defibrillator, global warming
  • 1953: random-access memory, stiletto heel
  • 1954: anti-recessionary, trickle-down theory
  • 1955: factor IX, fallout shelter
  • 1956: fiber optics, gobsmacked
  • 1957: Asian flu, magic mushroom
  • 1958: beatnik, Commonwealth Day
  • 1959: Apgar score, DEFCON
  • 1960: eurodollar, new journalism
  • 1961: affirmative action, macro lens
  • 1962: AK-47, carpool
  • 1963: space walk, ZIP-code
  • 1964: antiquark, garage sale
  • 1965: big-block, doo-wop
  • 1966: big hair, guerrilla theater
  • 1967: cannabinoid, cryonic suspension
  • 1968: Epstein-Barr virus, liquid crystal display
  • 1969: in vitro fertilization, Martin Luther King Day
  • 1970: Agent Orange, comfort food
  • 1971: animatronics, shield law
  • 1972: blaxploitation, garage band
  • 1973: closed captioning, performance-enhancing drugs
  • 1974: chroma-key, touch screen
  • 1975: debit card, psychobabble
  • 1976: digital camera, Legionnaires’ disease
  • 1977: food insecure, magnetic resonance imaging
  • 1978: agritourism, gene-splicing
  • 1979: compact disc, Kemp's ridley
  • 1980: hip-hop, megamerger
  • 1981: high-definition, lemon law
  • 1982: snail mail, text messaging
  • 1983: gastric banding, proton pump inhibitor
  • 1984: desktop publishing, DNA fingerprinting
  • 1985: biodiversity, statin
  • 1986: Glasnost, ozone hole
  • 1987: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, virtual reality
  • 1988: boomerang child, stair-stepper
  • 1989: eco-friendly, hypertext markup language
  • 1990: lithium-ion battery, McMansion
  • 1991: chemo brain, SIM card
  • 1992: buzzkill, pdf
  • 1993: booty call, fashionista
  • 1994: Botox, Universal Serial Bus
  • 1995: anglosphere, webcast
  • 1996: gastropub, smartphone
  • 1997: Amber Alert, budtender
  • 1998: arctic oscillation, webinar
  • 1999: blog, clickbait
  • 2000: bokeh, geocaching
  • 2001: bromance, captcha
  • 2002: dubstep, selfie
  • 2003: baby bump, severe acute respiratory syndrome
  • 2004: e-waste, social media
  • 2005: glamping, locavore
  • 2006: crowdfunding, sizzle reel
  • 2007: additive manufacturing, colony collapse disorder
  • 2008: bitcoin, mansplain
  • 2009: alt-right, subtweet
  • 2010: Arab Spring, gamification
  • 2011: bibimbap, blockchain
  • 2012: astrogeology, geotagging
  • 2013: flash mob, microbiome
  • 2014: initial coin offering, manspreading
  • 2015: aquafaba, haptics
  • 2016: humblebrag, photobomb
  • 2017: clicktivism, dad bod
  • 2018: antifa, embiggen

Read more at Merriam-Webster.

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