Merriam-Webster adds 'selfie,' more to dictionary

The latest edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary has added 150 new words, from "selfie" to "poutine."

Many of the words and terms relate to digital life and social media spoiler alert, hashtag and tweep while others are food-driven, including the Vietnamese staple pho and turducken, a boneless chicken stuffed into a boneless duck stuffed into a boneless turkey.

Merriam-Webster relies on a network of observers who track down word usage. Three or four senior editors make the final selections.

E-waste made it into the update. So did e freegan, one who scavenges for free food in store and restaurant trash bins as a way to reduce consumption of resources.

Other new words in the Merriam-Webster Collegiate, along with the lookup database at Merriam-webster.com:

Poutine, a French Canadian snack or side dish of french fries covered with brown gravy and cheese curds; steampunk, a literary genre with dress-up followers that mashes up 19th-century Victorian or Edwardian societies with steam-powered technology; unfriend, which joins defriend; and hot spot, a place where Wi-Fi is available.

And still more: crowdfunding, big data, baby bump, digital divide, dubstep, fangirl and gamification, the process of adding game-like elements to something to encourage participation.