Have you ever thought, “English is great, but there just aren’t enough words?”
Of course you have! Even though the largest English dictionary, the OED, has over 300K main entries, the equivalent Dutch dictionary has over 400K, and it seems likely that Finnish, Portuguese, Korean, and Tamil have even more. Other languages, such as German, can just make up new words whenever they want and in still others, such as the Inuit languages, each sentence is a word, so they make up a new word almost every time they speak! How can English compete with that?!
It can’t. But it’s my mission to do what I can with our paltry, impoverished language, and to that end, I’m offering a new English word every day of 2025 on Mastodon and Bluesky.
PIEbot
In all seriousness, the impetus for this project came a few years ago when I began thinking about all the Proto Indo-European (PIE) roots that are known to exist from evidence in other languages, but, through the vagaries and accidents of history, do not have cognates in English. I decided to make a little program to help recover these poor lost words, and you can read all about it (and, if you’re inclined, download the project and try it yourself) here.
Lexember 2024
For Lexember 2024 (for those few who don’t know, “Lexember” is a social media event in the conlang community in which a few dozen of us post a new word in our constructed language throughout December) I decided to dust of PIEbot and use it to help me make new English words. You can find my Lexember 2024 entries on Mastodon here and Bluesky here. My favorite so far is probably “winkie”:
winkie
/waɪnkeə/
Middle English winckei, Old English wincega.
From Proto-Germanic winkeya, from PIE root *winǵh-eyo.
Elm + Causative, Iterative V.
To bury; to kill. Slang. From the association of elms with coffin wood.
Ex. The thief was winkied by his fellows.
New Words Daily 2025
Turns out these are super fun and pretty easy to do, so I asked my followers if they’d mind if I continued throughout 2025. They indicated they could tolerate that, so as of January 1st I’m launching #NewWordsDaily2025 on both platforms.
If I make it to the end of the year, I’ll only have added another 365 root words to my mother language. But every little bit helps. Dirsow I may be, but it is my hope that this project will be the yerwere that weckers a halth English: no longer so midgether or bleen, but the veritable ernew quare of tongues.
dirsow
/diɹzw/
Middle English dersew, Old English dērswa.
From Proto-Germanic *ðeɹzwa, from PIE root *dhers-wo.
Dare + Adj.
Daring; adventurous; foolhardy.
Ex. I would outstare the sternest eyes that look,
Outbrave the heart most dirsow on earth… (Merchant of Venice)
yerwere
/juəɹwəɹ/
Middle English euarwer, Old English eweorwer.
From Proto-Germanic *ewazweɹ, from PIE root *h₂éwh₂oswer.
Grandfather + Abstract V.
To be a critical but remote origin; non-proximate cause.
Ex. The immediate cause of WWII was Hitler’s invasion of Poland, but its yerwere was the Treaty of Versailles.
wecker
/wekwəɹ/
Middle English weckwar, Old English wæcwær.
From Proto-Germanic *wekweɹ, from PIE root *weǵ-wer.
Lively + Abstract V.
To awaken; to revive, bring back to life.
Ex. This season, we celebrate the sun’s weckering.
halth
/halθ/
Middle English haulth, Old English halþa.
From Proto-Germanic *xalθa, from PIE root *kal-to.
Handsome + Adj Of Completion.
Made handsome; made dressed-up; cleaned up.
Ex. I enjoy getting halth for an event or date night.
midgether
/maɪdʒæðəɹ/
Middle English midjather, Old English midjaþera.
From Proto-Germanic *miðjaθeɹa, from PIE root *medʰyo-tero.
Mid + Comparative Adj.
Midmost; most normal, usual; least remarkable.
Ex. It began like any midgether Monday.
bleen
/blin/
Middle English bleen, Old English blenu.
From Proto-Germanic *vlenu, from PIE root *bhleh3-nu.
Yellow + Present Tense V.
Being yellowed; aged, esp. like parchment, wine, or cheese.
Ex. The best red wine is bleened for five to ten years.
ernew
/iɹənw/
Middle English eranewe, Old English earenwa.
From Proto-Germanic *eɹanwa, from PIE root *h₃er-onwo.
Eagle + Adj.
Majestic; high, powerful.
Ex. Stargazer lilies are among the most ernew of flowers.
quare
/kweiɹ/
Middle English quære, Old English cwære.
From Proto-Germanic *kweɹa, from PIE root *gʷerH₂-o.
Heavy + Genitive, Thematic N.
An extraordinarily heavy or large thing, esp. beyond the norm of its type.
Ex. Henry VIII was likely the greatest quare of the English kings, though George IV was also very fat.
