Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary Gets Major Update With 5,000 New Words Including Rizz, WFH, and Petrichor

Merriam-Webster has announced a significant milestone with the complete revision of its popular Collegiate Dictionary. The 12th edition, set to release on November 18, introduces more than 5,000 new words to its pages, including terms like "petrichor," "teraflop," "dumbphone," and "ghost kitchen."

This major update comes 22 years after the previous edition's release, launching at a time when physical dictionary sales in the US have been declining, according to Circana BookScan data. The new edition is now available for preorder.

For those curious about the new additions, petrichor refers to the pleasant smell after rainfall following a dry period. Teraflop measures computer processing speed, while dumbphones describe basic mobile devices predating smartphones. Ghost kitchens are commercial cooking spaces available for rent, which gained popularity during the pandemic.

Other notable additions include contemporary terms such as "cold brew," "farm-to-table," "rizz," "dad bod," "adulting," "cancel culture," "beast mode," "dashcam," "doomscroll," "WFH," and "side-eye." While these words were already accessible on Merriam-Webster's website, they now have a permanent place in the printed edition.

The new Collegiate Dictionary has been thoughtfully restructured, removing sparse biographical and geographical sections to accommodate new content. Greg Barlow, Merriam-Webster's president, explained to The Associated Press that people now turn to the internet rather than dictionaries for information about locations or historical figures.

Some obscure and outdated words like "enwheel" (meaning to encircle) have been eliminated. "We wanted to make the 'Collegiate' more useful, a better design, more interesting," Barlow stated. "We wanted it to be more rewarding to browse, more fun to look through, and to really be practical for research, but also a beautiful book."

The substantial new linen-covered edition weighs nearly 5 pounds. It arrives as adult reference book sales, including dictionaries and atlases, have shown consistent annual declines since 2022. In the 12 months ending September 6, dictionary sales fell 9% compared to the previous period, according to Circana BookScan, which covers 85% of the print market.

Merriam-Webster, America's leading dictionary publisher, sells approximately 1.5 million dictionaries annually. While most undergo regular revisions, few receive complete overhauls like the Collegiate. The company's retail sales have remained relatively steady in recent years, with print sales representing only a small portion of overall revenue.

"While the print dictionary is not at all important to the growth and profitability of this wonderful language company, it's still our heart," Barlow shared. "There are people out there who just love books, and we love books."

Interestingly, Barnes & Noble reports a bright spot in dictionary sales, with increases this year compared to 2024. Kat Sarfas, marketing manager for nonfiction, noted similar growth for other reference materials, including the US Constitution.

"I do think there is that nostalgia that people have to be able to pull a dictionary off the shelf and look up a word," Sarfas observed. "There's a certain desire to have these kinds of reference materials at home. It may be something that people feel like, as educated people, we should own."

While the Collegiate Dictionary, originally designed for college students, ranks among top dictionary sellers at Barnes & Noble, the general-interest "The Merriam-Webster Dictionary" (last updated in 2022) remains more popular, along with pocket editions.

Grant Barrett, a lexicographer and former Merriam-Webster dictionary editor, notes that predictions about the demise of print dictionaries have circulated since the internet's rise. "Now we're in this weird limbo where people want the dictionary but they don't want to pay for it, because they're used to getting things for free on the internet," he explained.

Merriam-Webster's website attracts approximately one billion visits annually, establishing the company as a digital leader in word resources. Over the past decade, the company's revenue has grown by nearly 500%, driven by its online dictionary, thesaurus, mobile apps, and word games.

The new Collegiate introduces curated word lists, such as terms from the 1990s, alongside expanded word histories. For example, readers can learn that "calculate" derives from the Latin word for "pebble," reflecting how ancient Romans used small stones for arithmetic.

For dedicated dictionary enthusiasts, the new edition preserves lettered thumb notches – small indentations along page edges that facilitate browsing. With the only American printer offering this feature now closed, Merriam-Webster sourced this specialized printing from India.

Print dictionaries remain important for various reasons: preserving cultures, serving as gifts, functioning as household references, and providing resources for students facing cell phone restrictions at school.

Lindsay Rose Russell, executive director of the Dictionary Society of North America, highlights their cultural significance: "There are lots of communities that speak languages that have never been documented, and they may not have been documented because those languages might have been actively suppressed. I'm thinking about Indigenous communities across North America."

"Having a print dictionary has all along sort of indicated the legitimacy of a language," added Russell, who teaches English at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Barrett notes that some people use dictionaries almost meditatively, opening them randomly to discover new words and allowing their minds to wander. Dictionaries have even influenced popular culture – the band Commodores found their name by running a finger down a dictionary page. As trumpet player William King told People magazine in 1978, "We lucked out. We almost became 'The Commodes.'"