New words, francization, usage… How dictionaries sort through their new editions

Every year, dictionaries present their new version with their share of new words. A choice that falls to the linguists and scientific advisors of the different editions.

Le Petit Larousse illustrated unveiled its 2025 version on Monday April 29 with 150 new words. An edition to be published on May 22. Le Petit Robert, in its new version, will be published on May 16. Every year, dictionaries are updated, introducing new words, choosing to exclude others… Bernard Cerquilini, professor of linguistics and scientific advisor to the Petit Larousse answered questions from franceinfo.

Franceinfo: Every year, thousands of words appear in the French language and yet Le Petit Larousse only kept 150. Is this choice neutral?

Bernard Cerquilini: It is partly objective because we check that the word we are using is well attested orally, in writing, by young people, by those not so young. But in part, we also choose it because we think it has a future and that it is representative of a movement, an innovation, a concern… There is a tasty side to words that seduces us. Le Petit Larousse is a dictionary of everyday language and it is this that we describe. So we verify that the word has just come into use. And what interests us is what it means, what it refers to.

There are words that we don’t necessarily hear in everyday life – like empouvoirement, literal translation of empowerment – why introduce them?

We note statistics, frequencies, etc. But we also have an advisory function. We don’t really like “empowerment”. We retained it, that means that it is attested. But we give a little help, in favor of the French version of an Anglicism. We like it better empowerment. We also like empowerment which is the official recommendation. And so we say to those who open the dictionary: “If you want, you can speak French.” Regarding Anglicisms, the statistics have been consistent for around twenty years, it is approximately 8%. When we introduce an Anglicism and it is current, we never fail to recommend a French term. For skatepark, we recommend – and this is the official word – “skateboard park”. For fast fashion, we don’t have a recommendation yet. The word is common, the thing is unfortunately common, so we included the term in the dictionary.

There was debate in 2021 when the pronoun “iel”, a contraction of “he” and “she” made its entry into The Robert. The Minister of Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, criticized him. Do you take these possible political reactions into account?

No. We will look at the certificates. The pronoun “iel” is very little attested. It only appears in activist texts. Which is entirely legitimate but it is not in the press, we do not hear it on the radio, it is not shared: it does not meet the criteria that we use. So for now the pronoun “iel”for us, is not in the current language therefore it is not in Le Petit Larousse. Each publishing house makes its own choices. Littré, Larousse, the Académie française and Le Robert each give an image of the language, a choice, an option. The dictionary is a political object because language is political, so Larousse hears the concerns, the anxieties of the population. And also because we participate in a policy in favor of language so we point out that we can say everything in French, that there are the words for that. “Zero waste” that we brought in is a great French training. “Mega basin” too.

New words enter the dictionary, do some also leave because they are obsolete or because you realize that they are no longer used?

We completely overhaul the dictionary every twenty years. Every twenty years we propose to eliminate words which are a little less in use but it is always with sadness. We kept “minitel” but we made it disappear “minitelist” And “minitv”. Language is a memory so we make sure, by playing with characters and spaces, to bring in 150 words every year and not bring any out.