The Official Scrabble Dictionary Just Added 300 New Words, Including Sriracha, Bitcoin, and Twerk

Scrabble fans know that game nights can get heated—especially when they’re working with an outdated dictionary. In 2018, NPR reported that Merriam-Webster added 300 new words to the official player’s dictionary that are sure to anger the Scrabble purists in your family.

While Merriam-Webster regularly adds new words its general dictionary, its editors are more selective when it comes to updating its list of playable Scrabble words. New editions are only published once or twice a decade, with the previous version coming out in 2014.

The release of the sixth edition includes plenty of terms that are products of the internet age. The words emoji, listicle, bestie, and twerk are now all fair game. Several trendy foods, like macaron, aquafaba, bibimbap, and sriracha, also made it onto the list. Strategic players will likely be happy to see the additions of the words qapik—a type of currency in Azerbaijan and also one of the few playable U-less Q words in Scrabble—and ew, one of only 106 two-letter words in the game's dictionary.

For more highlights from the update, check out the list below.

1. Frowny
2. Bestie
3. Bizjet
4. Qapik
5. Ew
6. Twerk
7. Arancini
8. Beatdown
9. Zomboid
10. Emoji
11. Sriracha
12. Facepalm
13. Bitcoin
14. Aquafaba
15. Hivemind
16. Listicle
17. Bibimbap
18. Puggle
19. Macaron
20. Sheeple
21. Yowza
22. Bokeh

Once you’re done memorizing that list, read up on the words added in late 2022, plus 11 Scrabble words guaranteed to help you win and how letter points are decided.

A version of this story ran in 2018; it has been updated for 2023.