‘QUEERBAITING,’ ‘PINKWASHING’ & ‘ABROSEXUAL’ ALL ADDED TO DICTIONARY

Jason Parsley

Multisexual. Folx. Sexual Minority.

Those are just a few of the over 300 words that have been added to Dictionary.com in its latest update. Their full definitions can be found at the end of the story.

“The most recent additions to Dictionary. com come from just about everywhere, spanning the multiverse-like complexity of modern life: they are at once serious (self-coup, rage farming, trauma dumping), amusing (petfluencer), and everything in between (liminal space),” wrote Senior Editor, Nick Norlen, of Dictionary.com. “Our lexicographers observe it all, documenting language change wherever it’s happening and defining the terms that help us to understand our times.”

Below are a few of the words that may interest the LGBT community.

Pinkwashing

noun. An instance or practice of acknowledging and promoting the civil liberties of the LGBTQ+ community, but superficially, as a ploy to divert attention from allegiances and activities that are in fact hostile to such liberties.

Other unrelated senses of this term are used in breast cancer awareness and research.

Queerbaiting

noun. Slang. A marketing technique involving intentional homoeroticism or suggestions of LGBTQ+ themes intended to draw in an LGBTQ+ audience, without explicit inclusion of openly LGBTQ+ relationships, characters, or people.

Sexual Minority

noun. A member or members of the LGBTQ+ community, used especially in the context of discrimination against or advocacy for a minoritized sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.

Abrosexual

adjective. Noting or relating to a person whose sexual orientation is fluid or fluctuates over time.

The prefix abro- comes from the Greek habrós, meaning “graceful, delicate, pretty.”