9 new words in Collins Dictionary

Here are 9 new words recently added to Collins English Dictionary online.

There is a scientific bent to the latest update. Along with ‘haplogroup’, three types of ‘blot’ test – Southern, northern, and western – make an appearance. The differences in capitalization among these three are significant, as the Southern blot test is named after its creator, biochemist Edwin Southern, while the others are word plays in reference to this name.

Cybersecurity (or should we say cybercrime?) is another theme running through some of the September additions, for example ‘brute-force attack’, a new meaning of ‘social engineering’ and, less directly, ‘zero-click’. And while the increasing popularity of electric vehicles continues to be represented through the inclusion of ‘BEV’ and ‘EREV’, there is reference to a potential downside in the form of ‘range anxiety’.

BEV  abbreviation for battery electric vehicle

brute-force attack  noun  an attempt to hack into a computer or network by submitting a large number of possible passcodes

EREV  abbreviation for extended-range electric vehicle

northern blot  noun  biochemistry  a technique that uses restriction enzymes to break down RNA molecules into fragments

range anxiety  noun  informal  a concern, experienced by the driver of an electric vehicle, that the battery may be fully discharged before a suitable charging point is reached

social engineering  noun  the fraudulent use of social media to obtain personal or confidential information

Southern blot  noun  biochemistry  a technique that uses restriction enzymes to break down DNA molecules into fragments

western blot  noun  biochemistry  a technique used to detect the presence of a specific protein in a sample of tissue

zero-click  adjective  (of a computer program) able to be executed without any action on the part of the user

Written by Mary O’Neill, managing editor.

All opinions expressed on this blog are those of the individual writers, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of Collins, or its parent company, HarperCollins.