Language in motion

Which very popular word was invented by Charles Dickens? 10 made-up words

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As masters of language, writers sometimes find that their imagination and creativity go far beyond the vocabulary the world has to offer. In order to put their ideas into writing, they have to create new words that eventually become part of the dictionary. Here are 10 terms and expressions used in modern language that you probably didn’t know were invented by famous writers.

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Dr. Seuss’ talent for telling fantastic stories through rhymes is well known. But very few people know that the creator of The Grinch and The Cat in the Hat was also responsible for the existence of the word "nerd."

In his 1950 book, If I Ran the Zoo, a little boy daydreams about what kind of animals he would have if he were in charge of a hypothetical zoo: "a Nerkle, a Nerd and a Seersucker". Although the term described an imaginary being -and the exact origin of a slang word can never be certain- it’s believed it was later adopted by students to refer to anyone with superior intelligence but not many social skills.

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Nowadays, freelance work is very widespread, especially among young people. But did you know that the word "freelancer" originated in the 19th century? The term first appeared in the historical novel Ivanhoe by Scottish novelist, poet, and historian Sir Walter Scott.

In the book, published in 1819 but set in England in the Middle Ages, Scott refers to mercenaries free of all allegiance who offer their services to anyone willing to pay them to fight for any nation. Thus, from the mixture of the words "free" and "lancers" came the term that today is given to those who work independently rather than on a regular salary basis.

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Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the word "pandemonium" as a "wild uproar" or "a chaotic situation". The origin of this word dates back to the 17th century. In 1667, English poet John Milton first used the term to name the capital of hell, home of the main character of his epic poem Paradise Lost.

"Pandemonium" is a combination of the Greek prefix pan-, which means "all", and the Late Latin daemonium, meaning "evil spirit". Although today we no longer use the term to refer to the actual location of Satan and the fallen angels, the word continues to describe an infernal place or situation.

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Nowadays, there is no doubt that the word "cyberspace" refers to the online world of computer networks. While it may seem that the term has been in our language forever, it was actually first used by American-Canadian speculative fiction writer William Ford Gibson in the 1982 short story Burning Chrome.

Two years later, the author expanded the concept in his novel Neuromancer to describe a fictitious computer network containing vast amounts of information that could be exploited for wealth and power. Ring a bell? "Cyberspace" has since become a widely used word in many languages.

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While the feeling of being bored must have existed since ancient times, the word for it was not put into writing until the mid-19th century. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first written record of the word "boredom" appears in Charles Dickens' 1852 novel Bleak House.

However, some historians have found antecedents that predate Dickens use of the term. Lord Byron used "bores" and "bored" in his 1823 epic poem Don Juan. And a few years later, Herman Melville used other variations of the term, like "bore" and "bored to death". While we can’t be sure who wrote the word first, its literary origin is undeniable.

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"Serendipity" is known as a fortuitous and unforeseen finding or discovery, something that happened by chance but still has value. This term was coined in 1754 by British writer Horace Walpole. It derives from a traditional Persian story in which the princes of Serendip turn to chance to find the solution to their problems.

In this case, we can be absolutely sure that "serendipity" is a Walpole creation. The author himself explains how he conceived the term in one of the countless letters he wrote throughout his life. In those letters, we can find evidence that he invented at least 200 words, although most of them aren’t used in modern everyday language.

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In 1920, when he was writing his next work, Czech playwright Karel Čapek desperately needed an original word that could define human-like machines created by a company to fulfill the hard tasks that people no longer wanted to do.

The first name that came to Čapek’s mind was "labori", from the Latin labor, meaning "work". However, his brother Josef was not very convinced and suggested "roboti", inspired by the Czech word robota, meaning "servitude" or "hard work." In 1922, the term "robot" made its way into our language when the play R.U.R. was translated into English.

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Well, maybe he didn’t invent it, but we have Mark Twain to thank for first putting in writing the term "hard-boiled" in relation to human character. As a writer of local color, Twain often used colloquialisms and regionalisms that he heard from other people and, by writing them down, made them familiar to the entire population.

In this sense, while the expression was probably known in some circles, the father of American literature was the first to use it as an adjective meaning "emotionally hardened, devoid of sentimentality".

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Although it comes from ancient Greek, the word "utopia" in its current sense was first used in 1516. Inspired by the New World, English philosopher and author Sir Thomas More imagined a fictional island society where everything worked in harmony.

"Utopia" literally translates as "no place", coming from the Greek οὐ ("not") and τόπος ("place"). The term popularized by More became so widespread that, over time, its meaning changed and is now used not only to refer to a specific place but to describe perfect scenarios or thoughts that are hard to attain.

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One of the most important pieces of English literature is also responsible for the name of a popular social network. We’re talking about The Canterbury Tales, a collection of 24 stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century.

In one of the tales, the English poet coined the onomatopoeia "twitter" to refer to the soft singing of a caged bird crying out for freedom. The neologism was later included by the Oxford Dictionary as a "short burst of inconsequential information". Fast forward to the 21st century, and American Internet entrepreneur Jack Dorsey uses the term to refer to the short, frequent posts on his now-famous platform. That also explains why Twitter’s logo was a bird!

Space fauna

Astronaut animals: The exciting adventures of 10 creatures sent to space

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Long before Neil Armstrong took his giant leap for mankind, Earth had already launched a small army of unexpected explorers into the great unknown. Tiny insects, brave dogs, and even a cat with a heart of steel all played their part in humanity’s quest to reach the stars. They weren’t astronauts in shiny suits, but living test pilots whose journeys helped scientists learn how breathing, eating, and simply existing might change without gravity. Join us to discover the stories of 10 extraordinary creatures that helped pave the road to space.

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The very first travelers to leave our planet weren’t humans or even mammals, but fruit flies. In 1947, aboard a U.S. V-2 rocket, these tiny pioneers soared about 68 miles above Earth, crossing the invisible boundary between us and space. Scientists wanted to know how cosmic radiation might affect living beings, and to everyone’s surprise, the flies came back safe and sound. Their mission was short, but it marked the very first proof that life could survive a trip beyond our atmosphere. Not too shabby for creatures better known for buzzing around the kitchen fruit bowl!

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Meet Albert II, the pioneer who proved that even a small monkey could make history. In 1949, this brave male rhesus macaque rode a U.S. rocket 83 miles above Earth, becoming the very first primate—and first mammal—to cross into space. His mission lasted only minutes, but it offered priceless information about how living bodies respond to extreme altitude and near-weightlessness. Although scientists carefully tracked his pulse, breathing, and movements, Albert died upon landing. His courage, nevertheless, didn’t go unnoticed.

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Years before humans ever circled the globe, the Soviet Union roamed the streets of Moscow looking for its first space traveler. They finally found Laika, a gentle, stray dog with big eyes and a calm spirit. In 1957, she boarded Sputnik 2 and became the first living being to orbit Earth, gazing down on the planet from hundreds of miles above. Though her journey was brief, her bravery left a lasting mark. Laika went on to become a symbol of courage and curiosity, inspiring dreamers, scientists, and explorers of every kind, both on two legs and four.

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Imagine a space capsule gliding above Earth with a chimpanzee wearing a miniature spacesuit inside, calmly flipping switches like a pro. That was Ham, NASA’s first chimp to truly pilot a spacecraft. In 1961, his flight aboard Mercury-Redstone 2 sought to prove that a living being could stay focused and respond to instructions even while floating weightless. Ham’s quick thinking and steady nerves impressed scientists everywhere and made him a celebrity overnight. For a minute, he was America’s coolest astronaut!

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A cat in space? Oui, indeed! In the autumn of 1963, France made history by sending Félicette, a small black-and-white stray cat, on a pioneering 13-minute journey beyond Earth’s atmosphere. Carefully selected from a group of feline candidates, she was fitted with delicate electrodes designed to record her brain activity and vital signs as she ascended skyward. During her brief but extraordinary voyage, scientists on Earth monitored every heartbeat. Against all odds, she returned safely, landing back on her home planet with quiet poise. Félicette became not only the first but also the only cat ever to venture into space.

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No rush, no panic, but calm, deliberate space travel at its finest. In 1968, two humble steppe tortoises from the Soviet Union became unlikely pioneers of cosmic exploration when they were placed aboard the spacecraft Zond 5, bound for a historic lunar orbit. While humans were still dreaming of walking on the Moon, these patient reptiles were already circling it, gliding silently through the vastness of space inside their small capsule. For seven days, they endured the journey without complaint, adapting to microgravity with the quiet resilience that defines their kind. When Zond 5 finally returned to Earth, the tortoises were found alive and in good health.

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Imagine being rocketed into orbit only to end up dizzy and nauseous. That was the fate of two unsuspecting bullfrogs in 1970. NASA, ever curious about how living creatures handle the unusual conditions, sent the amphibious pair into space to study how balance functions without gravity’s pull. As the frogs tumbled and twirled in their tiny capsule, scientists were able to learn how the inner ear adjusts when "up" and "down" no longer exist. It might have been a disorienting ride for the frogs, but it turned out to be a ribbiting leap forward for science!

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A web with no spatial sense? That was the mystery NASA set out to explore in 1973 when two pioneering spiders, Arabella and Anita, hitched a ride aboard Skylab. Their mission: to prove an arachnid could weave a proper web in the floating world of microgravity. At first, their silken constructions were lopsided and chaotic; yet, the spiders quickly adapted. Within just a few days, they were spinning near-perfect circular webs, as if gravity had never mattered at all.

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In the late 1970s, NASA scientists wanted to observe how aquatic life would behave beyond Earth’s pull. They released a few small fish inside a spacecraft and were surprised to find them "swimming" through the air. With no gravity to anchor them, the fish instinctively paddled their fins as though suspended in an invisible, weightless sea. Their silvery bodies drifted gracefully in slow motion like tiny astronauts in scales. The result was both scientific and poetic: a surreal, floating aquarium quietly orbiting the stars.

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Did you know there’s a creature so resilient it can survive outer space? Tardigrades, affectionately known as "water bears", are microscopic beings capable of withstanding extremes that would destroy almost any other life form. In 2007, scientists exposed them directly to the vacuum of space with no suit, no shield, and no oxygen. The tardigrades endured blistering radiation, freezing temperatures, and complete dehydration. Yet, many of them simply shrugged it off and carried on living. Tough doesn’t even begin to describe these nearly indestructible little astronauts that are probably the hardiest beings not just on Earth, but in the entire universe.