Poutine and hashtag added to Merriam-Webster dictionary

Three dishes have been added to a popular American dictionary. Poutine, pho, and turducken are amongst 150 new words added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

According to a May 19 news release, the definitions will appear in the 2014 Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary and online.

Poutine is defined as “a dish of French fries covered with brown gravy and cheese curds”, while Vietnamese pho is “a soup made of beef or chicken broth and rice noodles”. Turducken, which apparently was first used in 1982, is explained as “a boneless chicken stuffed into a boneless duck stuffed into a boneless turkey”.

While these food terms are commonly used amongst many English speakers, other words added to the dictionary this year may be less unfamiliar. Tech and online terms, such as social networking, crowdfunding, big data, and gamification were included on the list.

A secondary definition for the word catfish was added to its primary aquatic association. The term is defined as “a person who sets up a false personal profile on a social networking site for fraudulent or deceptive purposes” and was popularized by a 2010 documentary and the real-life hoax enacted on American football player Manti Te’o in 2013.

"So many of these new words show the impact of online connectivity to our lives and livelihoods," Peter Sokolowski, a Merriam-Webster editor, stated in the news release. "Tweep, selfie, and hashtag refer to the ways we communicate and share as individuals. Words like crowdfunding, gamification, and big data show that the Internet has changed business in profound ways."