# Go ahead, make up new words!

- Institution: TED
- Department: TEDYouth 2014
- Speaker: Erin McKean
- Year: 2014
- Level: For everyone
- Language: English
- Subjects: Society and politics, Languages and linguistics
- Source: [TED](https://www.ted.com/talks/erin_mckean_go_ahead_make_up_new_words)
- Licence: [CC BY-NC-ND 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) (Non-commercial use only, and no changed versions.)
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (sources give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the source's own words)

In this fun, short talk from TEDYouth, lexicographer Erin McKean encourages — nay, cheerleads — her audience to create new words when the existing ones won’t quite do. She lists out 6 ways to make new words in English, from compounding to “verbing,” in order to make language better at expressing what we mean, and to create more ways for us to understand one another.

## Lectures

1. [Go ahead, make up new words!](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/ted/erin_mckean_go_ahead_make_up_new_words/6dfc8024284d), 7 min (TED's player)