‘Chef's Kiss', 'Boop' Among 3,200 New Words Added To Cambridge Dictionary

Informal words used as slang, such as ‘boop’ and ‘the ick’, are among more than 3,200 new words and phrases added to the ‘Cambridge Dictionary’ in its latest update this week.

Boop, which is defined as “a gentle hit or touch on a person's or animal's nose or head, showing that you like them or as a joke”, and 'the ick', which refers to “a sudden feeling that you dislike someone or something or are no longer attracted to someone because of something they do”, are among the slangs to make it to the online edition for 2024 so far.

'Chef’s kiss', or a movement in which you put your fingers and thumb together, kiss them, then pull your hand away from your lips as a way of showing that you think that something or someone is perfect or excellent, is another such informal phrase that has been recognised formally.

“Language is always changing, and this means that the ‘Cambridge Dictionary’ team stays busy researching new words and meanings that enter the English language,” the dictionary said in a statement on Thursday.

“Many new additions come from the fields of science and technology, including 'scicomm' – the activity of explaining scientific work and information to people who are not scientists, or articles, talks, etc. that do this, and deep-sky – existing in or relating to the part of space outside the solar system,” it said.

A few other quirky additions include IYKYK, which is the written abbreviation for “if you know you know”. It is used mostly on social media and in text messages to imply a shared joke or shared knowledge with the reader that other people might not understand.

The noun “face journey” has been added to refer to “a series of expressions that appear on someone's face showing different emotions that they are experiencing as a reaction to something”.

‘Cambridge Dictionary’ said its team records how English is actually used by real people and uses the Cambridge English Corpus, a huge collection of written and spoken English, to gather evidence for how a new word is used by different people and in a variety of situations.

“We also collect evidence of new words that have only appeared in English very recently. We feature three of these on our weekly About Words blog, where readers can vote on which words they think should be added to the dictionary,” it explained, with reference the process behind adding on new terms.

Online gaming also inspired several new entries, such as 'backread' – to read through a series of messages or internet posts that you did not see when they were first created, often starting with the most recent, in order to learn what happened or was discussed earlier; 'speedrun' – to complete a computer game, or part of a computer game, as quickly as possible, especially by taking advantage of any glitches; and 'side quest' – a part of a computer game that has its own aim and story but is not part of the main game.

New additions from the world of music include ‘soca’ or a type of music that is a mixture of soul and calypso, originally from the Caribbean, and ‘jug band’ which refers to a small group of performers who play jazz, blues, or folk music on very simple musical instruments, especially using objects such as empty jugs as instruments.