Word created by The Simpsons added to US dictionary
- Published
"Embiggen" has been added to a US dictionary - a word first heard on The Simpsons in 1996.
Merriam-Webster included the word, which has been popularised partly because of the comic Ms Marvel, among 850 new words and definitions.
It is from the motto of The Simpsons' fictional town of Springfield: "A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man."
It means to "make bigger or more expansive", says Merriam-Webster.
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The word was first heard is the 1996 episode Lisa the Iconoclast, where Jebediah Springfield - the founder of the town - uses it.
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Bart's Springfield Elementary teacher Mrs Krabappel says she'd never heard heard the word before she moved to Springfield.
Lisa's teacher Miss Hoover replies: "I don't know why. It's a perfectly cromulent word."
The Simpsons writer Michael Price tweeted that we have writer Dan Greaney to thank for the word.
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Marvel Comics, whose character Ms Marvel has the power to embiggen herself, also tweeted about the addition to the dictionary.
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Kamala Khan took over as Ms Marvel in 2014 after the previous one, Carol Danvers, became Captain Marvel.
Writer G Willow Wilson, who also helped create the most recent version of the character, was also pretty pleased.
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She admits that she didn't even get the Simpsons reference when she first started using the word.
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Other words added to the dictionary include mansplain, glamping and tzatziki.
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