Scrabble is finally entering the 21st century with the introduction of 5,000 new words to its Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, due out Aug. 6 from Merriam-Webster.
This month's refresher—the first in almost a decade—adds tech-savvy words like "texter," "vlog," "hashtag," and "selfie," among others.
The fifth edition of the Scrabblers' bible hits shelves Wednesday, with a new "geocache" entry—a word chosen by fans during this year's Scrabble Word Showdown. Digital versions of the dictionary will be available for iOS, Android, and Kindle later this month.
But participants in the upcoming 2014 National Scrabble Championship in Buffalo, New York will not be playing new words like "bromance" or "schmutz," which will be sanctioned for official use on Dec. 1.
While Merriam-Webster did not reveal all 5,000 new words, the dictionary maker did provide a sample list (below).
"Language is constantly evolving and new words are added to Merriam-Webster dictionaries on an ongoing basis," Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster editor at large, said in a statement. "Now thousands of those words can officially be played on the Scrabble game board."
According to the Associated Press, the new words add about 40 pages to the dictionary, which already offers more than 100,000 playable words, including a number of two-letter winners.
These additions include "favorite words from the past decade, making game play even more entertaining and relevant," said Jonathan Berkowitz, vice president of global brand strategy at Hasbro.
Other improvements, according to the news site, include words and spellings used by English-speaking Canadians and Brits.
"With thousands of new words, this edition will boost scores for players of all levels," John Chew, co-president of the North American Scrabble Players Association (NASPA), said.
In 2011, the Collins Official Scrabble Words dictionary added words like "badware," "vlog," and "pharm."
In November, meanwhile, Oxford Dictionaries crowned the term "Word of the Year," following a 17,000 percent leap in usage since 2012, when "GIF" was bestowed the same honor.
- BEATBOX v -ED, -ING, -ES to sing to the rhythm of rap music
- BROMANCE n pl. -S a close nonsexual relationship between men
- BUZZKILL n pl. -S one that has a depressing or negative effect
- CHILLAX v -ED, -ING, -ES to calm down
- COQUI n pl. -S a small arboreal frog
- DA n pl. -S dad
- DUBSTEP n pl. -S a type of electronic dance music
- FRENEMY n pl. -MIES one who pretends to be a friend but is actually an enemy
- FUNPLEX n pl. -ES a building with facilities for sports and games
- GEOCACHE n pl. –CACHED, -CACHING, -CACHES to search for hidden items by using a Global Positioning System device as part of a game
- GI n pl. -S a white garment worn in martial arts
- HASHTAG n pl. -S a word or phrase preceded by the symbol # that categorizes the accompanying text
- JOCKDOM n pl. -S the world of athletes
- JOYPAD n pl. -S a device with buttons to control computer images
- MIXTAPE n pl. -S a compilation of songs recorded from various sources
- MOJITO n pl. -TOS a cocktail made of rum, sugar, mint, and lime juice
- PO n pl. POS a chamber pot
- PONZU n pl. -S a tangy sauce used chiefly on seafood
- QAJAQ n pl. -S kayak
- QIGONG n pl. -S a Chinese system of physical exercises
- SCHMUTZ n pl. -ES dirt, grime
- SELFIE n pl. -S an image of oneself taken by oneself using a phone camera
- SOJU n pl. -S Korean vodka distilled from rice or sweet potato
- SUDOKU n pl. -S a puzzle involving the numbers 1 through 9
- TE n pl. -S ti
- TEXTER n pl. -S one that texts
- VLOG v VLOGGED, VLOGGING, VLOGS to blog video material
- VODCAST v -CAST or -CASTED, -CASTING, -CASTS to make video files available for download over the Internet
- WEBZINE n pl. -S a magazine published on the Internet
- YUZU n pl. -S a sour Japanese citrus fruit
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