‘Yacht Rock,’ ‘Looksmaxxing,’ and More New Words in 2026

Just because a word isn’t printed in the dictionary doesn’t mean that it’s not a word. You might hear it used for years or even read it in newspapers without an official definition on the books. But there comes a point when that widespread usage can no longer be ignored, and the word is granted a permanent place amid the annals of lexicography. Merriam-Webster recently added 1,400 entries to this prestigious club, spanning Gen Z and Gen Alpha slang, technology jargon, culinary insights, and plenty more terms that got their start on social media. Here’s a look at 10 of the new entries that caught our eye.

If you’ve jammed out to artists such as Steely Dan or Kenny Loggins, you may be a fan of yacht rock. This newly enshrined musical term is “a style of soft rock music originating in the 1970s and 1980s.” The term postdates the genre: It was coined in 2005 as the title of a comedy web series called Yacht Rock, whose episodes focused on fictional portrayals of the musicians now associated with the genre.

The term “looksmaxxing” refers to a social media phenomenon in which people go to “sometimes extreme or dangerous measures intended to increase one’s physical attractiveness.” It may involve something as simple as giving up sugar, but it also includes more drastic interventions, such as intense plastic surgery procedures or even whacking one’s jaw with a mallet to slightly alter its shape (don’t do this). The suffix “-maxxing” can be applied facetiously to other unofficial terms such as “sleepmaxxing” (improving one’s sleep habits) and “proteinmaxxing” (eating a lot of protein in each meal).

You might have seen the term “superfood” on the menu at your favorite salad spot or smoothie bar. It refers to any food that’s rich in nutrients, antioxidants, fatty acids, and other elements considered to be good for health. Common superfoods include salmon, broccoli, blueberries, and more.

What some people call “raccoons,” others humorously refer to as trash pandas — a moniker that now holds a place in Merriam-Webster’s official dictionary. This silly name was first used in 2014 as part of an innocuous comment made on the website Reddit by a person with the username CarlPeligro. What seemed like a simple throwaway became adopted by internet users far and wide.

Have you ever felt anxiety creep in as the weekend winds down and the workweek fast approaches? Then you’ve likely experienced a typical case of the Sunday scaries, another name for those “feelings of anxiety or sadness that arise on Sunday from the knowledge that the weekend is almost over.” It may not be listed in any medical books, but a recommended remedy for Sunday scaries is to order takeout and stream a few episodes of your favorite Netflix show.

If you watch a video and it makes you uncomfortable because you can’t determine whether the people in it are real or AI-generated, that’s a demonstration of the uncanny valley. It’s a “psychological effect characterized by feelings of unease or revulsion in response to the nearly but imperfectly lifelike quality of something.” With the rise of AI, this feeling is becoming much more widespread, so be on the lookout for those feelings of unease.

The word “parasocial” applies to the relationship that many diehard fans have with their favorite celebrity or even a fictional character. A parasocial relationship is “a one-sided emotional connection with someone whom one does not know personally.” The term was coined in 1956 by two sociologists trying to name the new types of relationships they saw people developing with TV personalities.

Poll a large group of people on the status of Nelson Mandela, and many of them will claim he died in prison in the 1980s. But that didn’t actually happen, despite many people believing it did. This shared confusion gave rise to the term “Mandela Effect,” a “phenomenon in which many people collectively misremember a specific fact, event, or detail in a consistent manner.” Other examples include people thinking that Darth Vader said, “Luke, I am your father,” or the idea that the Fruit of the Loom logo features a cornucopia (both untrue).

When you’re in the early stages of falling in love, you might be overcome by a sensation of limerence. It’s “a state of blissful usually temporary infatuation experienced during the early period of a romantic relationship.” Limerence doesn’t necessarily mean you’re actually in love; rather, it’s a feeling of being infatuated by something that’s new and exciting.

You’ve probably heard of Bitcoin, which holds actual value to its holders. But all across the internet you’ll come upon various examples of a meme coin, which is virtual currency created in honor of Internet memes or celebrities, often without any actual use or value. One of the most popular examples is Dogecoin, named after an internet meme that was popular in 2013, featuring a Shiba Inu speaking in broken English.