| coin |
| Definition: To invent a new word. Note: The newly invented word is called a neologism. |
| Example: The singular noun statistic was coined by fore-clipping the word statistics, the name of the field of study. |
| Etymology: The word derives via Old French from the Latin cuneus, wedge. |
| Oxford English Dictionary: The word's first citation in this sense is from 1589: "Young schollers not halfe well studied … when they come to their friends … will seeme to coigne fine wordes out of the Latin." (Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xxii. (Arb.) 259) |