In the latest round of updates to its online reference, the Oxford Dictionaries Online has created a new entry for Bitcoin.
Bitcoin enters the distinguished dictionary’s online version alongside such important additions to the language was twerk.
Here is their definition for Bitcoin: “a digital currency in which transactions can be performed without the need for a central bank.”
That’s a somewhat limited definition. That also defines Litecoin and Ripple. Plus, as BTC Global CTO Vladimir Marchenko points out, Bitcoin can be performed without even the need for trust in a third party. It can be exchanged in a peer-to-peer transaction.
Mainstream use and a history behind a word are taken into consideration for each of Oxford’s entrants. A representative from the Oxford Dictionary cited a history of use going back to 2008 plus copious references online that back up Bitcoin’s place in the dictionary.
The representative is mindful to mention that inclusion in the dictionary alone is not a case for the currency’s legitimacy, simply that it has resonated with public consciousness.
Other pieces of the public consciousness to earn a space in the online dictionary include “food baby” (“a protruding stomach caused by eating a large quantity of food and supposedly resembling that of a woman in the early stages of pregnancy”) and “TL;DR” (“’too long didn’t read’: used as a dismissive response to a lengthy online post, or to introduce a summary of a lengthy post”).