Non-fungible tokens arrive in French as Larousse welcomes 150 new words

The latest edition of the Larousse dictionary of the French language will feature 150 new words and phrases, including Non-fungible tokens (NFT), wokism and halloumi.

The new edition is due to be published next month.
The new words, meanings, phrases and expressions will reflect "both the vitality and diversity of the French language", according to the publishers.

Separatism, invisibilisation and grossophobia are among the terms to be added to the dictionary.

The Covid-19 pandemic has proved a major source of new expressions, such as Covid long (long-term covid), passe vaccinal (vaccine pass), vaccinodrome (large vaccination centre).

Foreign words

Elsewhere, the Cypriot cheese halloumi will be found alongside konjac (a Japanese plant), kakapo (a parrot from New Zealand), chick lit (literature for young women in English), tomte (a Swedish elf) and yodel (a singing technique from the German-speaking Alps).

Larousse will also include the French designer Olivier Rousteing, the American dancer Misty Copeland, the French chef Thierry Marx and the Filipino-American journalist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Angelita Ressa as recognised proper nouns,

The dictionary, one of the two reference dictionaries in France, along with Le Robert, is celebrating its 170th anniversary. It contains more than 64,000 words and some 28,000 proper names and will be published on 15 June.