10 Female Authors Who Added Words to the Dictionary

Saying that a specific person “coined” a new word is often a fairly tricky fact to verify, not least because someone’s work containing the earliest written record of a word doesn’t necessarily mean that they invented it. And then again, there’s always the worry that the earliest attestation that we’ve unearthed so far will eventually be superseded or “antedated” by an even earlier record at a later date.

Putting that caveat to one side, though, we can fairly reliably credit a number of words to some of our most famous authors—including the ten famous female writers explored here. 

1. "CHINTZY" – GEORGE ELIOT
2. "DAILY-BREADLINESS" – ELIZABETH GASKELL
3. "DAUGHTERLING" – CHARLOTTE BRONTË
4. "DO-NOTHING-NESS" – JANE AUSTEN
5. "IMMEDICINABLE" – MARY SHELLEY
6. "IMPURIST" – VIRGINIA WOOLF
7. "MOTOR TRIP" – EDITH WHARTON
8. "SLYPUSS" – AGATHA CHRISTIE
9. "WHEEDLESOME" – LOUISA MAY ALCOTT
10. "WHELPHOOD" – EMILY BRONTË 

"CHINTZY" – GEORGE ELIOT

Chintz was originally the name of a specific type of Indian calico, first mentioned in English back in the 1600s. The fabric was so mass-produced and cheaply made that it quickly became available and ultimately slangily synonymous with anything unfashionable, cheap, or of inferior quality. And from there, it fell to the English author George Eliot to apparently coin the adjective "chintzy," meaning cheap-looking, in a letter written on September 18, 1851. 

"DAILY-BREADLINESS" – ELIZABETH GASKELL

The English writer Elizabeth Gaskell’s picturesque novels and stories of Victorian life are full of inventive language and evocative details, leading her to be credited with a clutch of words, including pain-stricken, notable-looking, open-spoken, and loud-talking. At the more inventive end of Gaskell’s coinages, though, is "daily-breadliness"—a word she used in her 1863 novel Sylvia’s Letters to describe the kind of fellow-feeling and camaraderie shared by people who dine or take their “daily bread” together. 

"DAUGHTERLING" – CHARLOTTE BRONTË

The –ling at the ends of words like duckling and underling is a diminutive-forming element, used to coin words that have some sense of being little or twee. "Daughterling," consequently, is a pet cutesy term for a young daughter—and in that sense, it was first recorded in Charlotte Brontë’s novel Villette in 1853. 

"DO-NOTHING-NESS" – JANE AUSTEN

Jane Austen’s novels contain the earliest records of a number of words and phrases according to the Oxford English Dictionary, including nice-looking, antibilious, fragmented, bride-people (the individuals involved in a wedding ceremony), and even outsider. It’s difficult to say that she coined all these words herself, of course, but one word that seems more likely was her coinage of "do-nothing-ness," meaning laziness or a lack of energy, which is first recorded in Mansfield Park in 1814. 

"IMMEDICINABLE" – MARY SHELLEY

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein contains the earliest known records of the words "unsympathized," "ice raft," and "ungazed (i.e., having never been looked at)". Her less well-known novel The Last Man, published in 1826, meanwhile, contains the brilliantly evocative adjective "immedicinable," used to describe a condition that cannot be cured by any known medicines or treatments. 

"IMPURIST" – VIRGINIA WOOLF

Virginia Woolf was an inventive coiner of compound adjectives, with the Oxford English Dictionary crediting her writings to the likes of lily-sweet, heavy-lidded, rain-pocked, powder-dusted, and snail-green. In a 1937 entry in her Writer’s Diary (a collection of her personal journal entries first published in 1953), Woolf also coined the word "impurist"—namely, the opposite of a purist, or someone who holds non-traditional or unconventional opinions. 

"MOTOR TRIP" – EDITH WHARTON

House of Mirth author Edith Wharton wrote a personal letter in 1909 that contains the earliest known record of the expression "motor trip," meaning a journey by car. Wharton is also the earliest known author to use the name of the legendary ship, the Marie Celeste, allusively for a place that is suddenly and mysteriously deserted. 

"SLYPUSS" – AGATHA CHRISTIE

A coquettish name for a cunning young woman, Agatha Christie’s 1942 mystery novel The Body in the Library contains the earliest written record of the word "slypuss." 

"WHEEDLESOME" – LOUISA MAY ALCOTT

Little Women author Louisa May Alcott apparently coined the word "wheedlesome," meaning coaxingly persuasive, in her 1863 compilation, Hospital Sketches. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, meanwhile, Alcott’s journals also (somewhat appropriately) include the earliest known record of the phrase "woman’s mag."

"WHELPHOOD" – EMILY BRONTË 

Emily Brontë seemingly coined this synonym for "puppyhood" (the canine equivalent of childhood) in her 1847 masterpiece Wuthering Heights. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Brontë’s only novel also contains the earliest known records of the word gnarl (a dog’s growl), the verb "malappropriate" (a synonym for misappropriate), and the compound adjective "storm-troubled."

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