neonism

English

WOTD – 2 May 2011

Etymology

Formed irregularly from the Ancient Greek νέον (néon) (neon: neuter singular form of νέος (néos), neos, “new”) + the English -ism; compare the closely related ne- and neon, as well as the earlier synonym neologism.

Pronunciation

Audio (US) (file)

Noun

neonism (countable and uncountable, plural neonisms)

(rare, linguistics) A word or phrase which has recently been coined; a new word or phrase, a neologism.
- 1883, S. Mullen, The Melbourne Review, Volume 8. p. 204:
  Now, it will not be denied that in the present day two great sources of the modification of our language are native slang and American neonism.
- 1948, Johnson O'Connor, English Vocabulary Builder, vol. 2:
  Blurb is a neonism, a modern manufactured word which appears in only the most recent dictionaries.

References

“†neonism, n.” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [draft revision, Dec. 2009]