How Will You Celebrate National Dictionary Day?

Celebrated annually on October 16th, National Dictionary Day celebrates the birth of Noah Webster, an American writer who was born in 1758. According to NationalToday.com, "Webster is best-known for publishing the first dictionary in 1806, which he continued to compile and expand for the next 27 years. When his dictionary was published in 1828, it was a formidable resource packed with useful words and spelling updates."

Young Noah set off for Yale at age 16. He chose to study teaching because law was too expensive. According to NationalToday.com, "It was in teaching that he first felt compelled to reform the American academic system and language. His first textbook was issued in 1783 and covered the grammar of the English language...Many of us are familiar with the spelling differences between English and American English words like "color" - much of that can be credited to Webster, who, in his first edition of the American English dictionary in 1806, took time to correct English spellings (and change) to American English ones. Another example: Webster re-spelled "musick" as "music." Though this bestselling dictionary defined 37,000 words, he was unsatisfied; and so he spent the next 22 years of his life dedicated to editing and adding new words. Eventually, at the age of 70, Webster published his new dictionary in 1828 with over 65,000 words."

After Webster died in 1843 as an American hero who pioneered the dictionary and supported both the abolition of slavery and universal education, G & C Merriam, Co. purchased the rights to his "An American Dictionary of the English Language." Brothers George and Charles Merriam continued to refine Webster's dictionary, eventually creating the Merriam-Webster dictionary known and used today.

And did you know that, at the end of every year, many dictionaries share their favorite words of the year? Last year, Merriam-Webster's word of the year was "polarization, division into two sharply distinct opposites; especially, a state in which the opinions, beliefs, or interests of a group or society no longer range along a continuum but become concentrated at opposing extremes."

And every year, dictionaries announce the words they added during the year. Some of the words added during 2024 by Merriam-Webster included beach read, true crime, heat index, and nepo baby.

According to Gregory Barlow, President of Merriam-Webster, "The one constant of a vibrant living language is change. We continuously encounter new ways of describing the world around us, and the dictionary is a record of those changes."

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And according to Google, "For Dictionary Day, a fun dress-up theme involves choosing a word and creating a costume to represent it. Consider words like "athletic" (sports clothes), "delectable" (cupcake), "distracted" (thought bubbles), "celebratory" (party attire), or even more abstract concepts like "miscellaneous" (a costume with various random items attached to it) or "perennial" (a costime with flowers or plants)."

Lastly, according to NationalDayCalendar.com. "Celebrate by learning a new word or two! Play a fun dictionary-based game like Scrabble. While you celebrate, use #NationalDictionaryDay to post on social media."

Image Credit: Dreamstime.

Check out these posts on my blog about words and dictionaries:

Best Social Media Post of the Month for April 2025 (May 2025)

https://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2025/05/best-social-media-post-of-month-for.html

Words and Terms that Told the Story of 2024 (January 2025)

https://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2025/01/words-and-terms-that-told-story-of-2024.html

Words and Terms that Told the Story of 2023 (January 2024)

https://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2024/01/words-and-terms-that-told-story-of-2023.html

Words and Terms that Told the Story of 2022 (January 2023)

https://www.debbielaskeysblog.com/2023/01/words-and-terms-that-told-story-of-2022.html

Do you know the story of the longest word in the English language?

https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/origin-supercalifragilisticexpialidocious