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Nonce word

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A legomenon of order 0; A word which is never used. A hapax legomenon is a word whihc is used only once. If a word is used twice it is a dis legomenon, thrice tris legomenon. If a word is used 0 times, it is a nonce word, a word which is never used.

For example, while antidisestablishmentarianism is a very popular word, especially for spelling competitions, it is notable only in its length and obscurity. Although antidisestablishmentarianism is well defined, there are no known uses of the word, apart from discusion of the word itself. In fact, there is even a web site devoted to it. So, while antidisestablishmentarianism is clearly a word, and quite popular at that, it never actually gets used. It is a nonce word


See also: hapax