What English Words Were Born in the Same Year as You?

Did you know that, like you, words are also “born”? But there’s no giant dictionary out there spouting out new words that we can use.

Instead, the birth of the word is based on when a word was first used in print. When new words gain enough traction, they get added to either the Merriam-Webster dictionary or the Oxford English Dictionary.

These dictionaries act like birth certificates for these words. When a new word shows up in either of these dictionaries, that’s when you know that the word is recognized as part of the English language.

For example, in the year 2015, the word aquafaba was born. Aquafaba is a liquid that results when beans are cooked in water. You might be wondering how this word could possibly gain traction in the English-speaking world. It’s actually the whole vegan movement that sparked the popularity of this word. You see, the aquafaba is often used in vegan cooking as a substitute for egg whites. Neat, right? 

Are you curious about the words that were born in the same year as you? I’m sure the folks over at Merriam-Webster were pretty excited to let us know which words share the same birth year as us, so they made this handy little site.

All you need to do is select your birth year, and the site will automatically show you which words were born on that year.

What words were born on your birth year?