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Sociolinguistics History Etymology

The Graveyard of Words: Who Decides When a Word Is Officially Dead?

Estimated read time 6 min read

For every new word that enters the dictionary, thousands of others fall into disuse and disappear into the graveyard of language. This linguistic culling isn’t decided by a single authority, but is a slow, organic process of collective neglect driven by cultural and technological change. Lexicographers act as historians, not executioners, tracking a word’s slow fade into obsolescence.