The new words of Larousse 2021

Text by: Isabelle Chenu Follow

It is a ritual. Each year, new words enter the dictionary. The linguists of the 2021 edition of Larousse retained 150 of them. They are as much revealers of the mutations of the language as of the evolutions of the world and our societies.

Publicity

To enter the dictionary, it is not enough to be a buzzword, but rather to have already proven itself. Many newcomers have entered everyday language, others are necessary due to scientific or technological advances. A chatbot, for example, is this kind of virtual advisor capable of answering your Internet user's questions. It is a computer program based on artificial intelligence.

At the letter B, you may wonder about the word blob. It is a mushroom with surprising biological properties, capable of fusing with other organisms to better adapt.

Entering the dictionary sometimes signifies the recognition of a phenomenon. This is the case with femicide, which refers to the murder of a woman because of her gender.

In total, the 2021 edition of Petit Larousse has more than 63,500 words and 28,000 proper names and will be available in bookstores on June 3.

Newsletter Receive all international news directly in your mailbox

Follow all international news by downloading the RFI application

• Culture
• France