Merriam-Webster adds AI words its own lexicographer says take programming knowledge to explain

Passing the newspaper-and-magazine test is only the first step. Specialist groups of physical- and biological-science "definers" then pick candidate words, study how each is used technically and write a definition aimed at a general audience ^[6]. So the process counts how often a word reaches general readers, then writes a meaning for people outside the field.

Nature's report says the new additions stand out for the advanced knowledge needed to understand them ^[12]. Sokolowski, who writes and edits entries, gave the plainest case. "You can't really explain 'vibe coding' if you don't know what 'programming' is," he said ^[3]. He puts the sophistication of the batch down to twenty-first-century digital communication, which in his account has given non-specialists wider access to highly technical terms ^[4].

His explanation is a plausible interpretation. Nature's table lists ten terms, six of them AI or computing ^[1]. The report calls the additions "a slew" ^[1]. It does not give the batch's total size, say which channels carried the words, or compare this batch with earlier ones in figures. The AI share of the whole batch cannot be worked out from the table. The comparison with earlier batches rests on Sokolowski's impression. "This particular batch, more than any other that I've seen, really does feel like it's a meta-commentary on language," he said ^[9].

Lera Boroditsky, a cognitive scientist at the University of California, San Diego, who studies language and cognition, said the surge of complex technical words is not surprising ^[10]. Technological and scientific innovation often drives language change, she said. In her view, technology is now advancing at a rate comparable to, if not greater than, the rate during the industrial revolution ^[10]. "The more complex a society becomes, the more of these tightly packed units of meaning we have to make, so we can talk about things that are complex in ways that don't take forever," she said ^[11].

I think the evidence supports a narrower claim than these words having become general vocabulary in the full sense. Terms like these now recur in mainstream print often enough to earn entries ^[5], so non-specialists are meeting them. Boroditsky's account explains why such compact terms get coined ^[11]. Finding out whether people outside the field can unpack them would mean asking readers what the words mean.