Vol. 10 · Portmanteaus ·Contemporary (2000–) ·2002
Selfie
self -ie (diminutive)
- Meaning
- A self-portrait photograph, typically taken on a smartphone.
- Source words
- self + -ie (diminutive)
- Coined by
- Nathan Hope
- Year
- 2002
Background
First recorded use on an Australian Internet forum (ABC Online) by a 21-year-old whose post became the OED's earliest citation. Oxford's 2013 Word of the Year; the suffix alone (as in *groupie*, *foodie*) pre-existed by decades.
Contemporary (2000–)
Faster coinage, faster canonisation. Brexit and podcast both reached the OED within a decade of first use — historically rapid. Social media has made visibility, not invention, the rate-limiting step.
Two words, one coinage.
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