Wokisme, vegan: The ‘new’ words added to French dictionary
The latest edition of the dictionary has taken decades to create and publish
Work on the new edition began in 1986
Romain Talon/Shutterstock
Wokisme, vegan, and télétravail are among thousands of ‘new’ words to be added to the ninth and latest edition of the Académie française dictionary.
The new dictionary comes almost 90 years after the publication of the previous tome. Work started on it in 1986, and the publication process began in 1992. The new edition was finally presented to President Emmanuel Macron on November 14.
Mr Macron said: “You are the guardians of our language. And you shed light on it for its hundreds of millions of speakers around the world.”
The dictionary contains 53,000 words, of which almost 21,000 are considered to be ‘new’ words.
The aim of including ‘new’ terms is to show “social and cultural transformation”, and provide up-to-date terms for changes in society, and international cultural influences. The Académie described it as “a mirror to an era that runs from 1950 to today”.
For example:
Radiotoxicité: Radiation toxicity, also known as radiation sickness or poisoning. A collection of health issues caused by exposure to high amounts of ionizing radiation in a short period of time.
Rugbystique: Rugby-linked culture in a region.
Samizdat: Defined as “a Russian word meaning ‘self-publishing’”
Télétravail: Working from home.
Vegan: Someone who does not eat any animal-derived food products, including meat, fish, dairy, eggs, or honey. May also refrain from wearing animal-derived clothing products, such as leather.
Wokisme: Defined as “a school of thought, originating in the US in the 2000s, advocating the raising of awareness of the inequalities in Western societies, especially of a racist, sexist, or homophobic nature”.
Xénogreffe: Xenograft, a transplant of tissue from one species to another.
Yassa: A type of spicy chicken dish from Senegal, West Africa.
Zadistes: Defined as “activists who illegally occupy a given site, with or without violence, to prevent a planned development project from going ahead”.
Zapateado: Defined as “a Spanish three-beat dance”.
For the first time ever, the dictionary is also available to search online. Additions since the latest version are identifiable via an asterisk.
‘Feminisation’ of words
The Académie française has also highlighted the “feminisation of the names of professions and functions”, and has included words such as:
Soigneuse: A female caretaker or nurse
Viticultrice: A female winegrower
Vice-consule: A female vice-consul
Of the new ‘feminised’ words, the Académie said in a press release: “Opposed to any authoritarian determination of the language, the Académie takes into account these changes in usage, thus responding to the legitimate desire of individuals to bring their name into line with their own identity.”
There are also some perhaps-surprising absences; for example, neither the word ‘smartphone’ nor ‘email’ appears. Instead, the term ‘courriel’ is used for ‘mail’, as it is ‘more French’.
“Insofar as courrier has a more French form, we thought it would be preferable to choose the word courriel and then point out that the word mail exists,” said Patrick Vannier, who works in the dictionary department, to RTL.
“If we have a choice, we prefer to choose the French form insofar as they both say the same thing.”
Not-so new
Not all of the ‘new’ words will appear so recent, however.
The long process of creating and publishing the dictionary means that some ‘new’ additions have been in popular usage for a while already. These include soda, scooter, silicone, sashimi, recyclable, risotto, and tartiflette.
