New Words Have Just Been Added to ‘The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary’

If you enjoy Scrabble, you know how contentious a game can get when a player tries a word that seems too new, too irreverent, or too much like slang to count. The solution is to reference The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, the final word (or words) in what’s permissible. In keeping with the times, hundreds of new entries have been added in the newly released 7th edition. Here’s a sampling per Merriam-Webster, curators of the game’s guidebook.

1. Bae

This noun of endearment from AAL lets you grab two vowels from just three letters. You can also use the plural baes.

2. Vax/Vaxx

Short for vaccine. X is a high-value letter, so playing vaxxed or vaxxing is a big win.

3. Dox/Doxx

Outing someone’s personal information online is bad; using it in Scrabble is good, again owing to the X factor.

4. Boricua

A noun meaning a native of Puerto Rico, Boricua uses seven letters and could earn a 50-point bonus.

5. Zonkey

A zebra-donkey hybrid animal. You can also play zedonk.

6. Dumpster

A trademarked brand name for a trash bin, dumpster has entered the land of generic words in Scrabble.

7. Ambigram

An ambigram is an image or word that can be recognized when moved or flipped (think wow to mom).

8. Embiggen

Yes, it’s from The Simpsons. You can now embiggen, or enlarge, your score with it.

9. Adulting

Putting on one’s big person pants is now playable.

10. Deepfake

A phony representation of a person using images or video, deepfake will have rivals screaming foul. Too bad. It’s real.

[h/t Merriam-Webster]