Bitcoin has been added to Oxford Dictionaries Online (ODO).
The virtual currency is one of around 120 words to enter the online resource in its latest quarterly update.
Phablet (a smartphone with a screen size between that of a typical phone and a tablet) also features after the digital dictionary analysed language usages across websites, magazines and other publications to identify new words.
Its database of word usage gains about 150m examples a month from sources around the world, which ODO then analyses to identify trends and popular words.
Other terms now included are MOOC – massive open online course, such as one in computer science to be made available at Georgia Institute of Technology – and BYOD, the initialism describing the bring your own device method of mobile working.
A new compound is the ‘Internet of things’, which is described as "a proposed development of the Internet in which everyday objects have network connectivity, allowing them to send and receive data".
Hackspace is also included, which is defined as "a place in which people with an interest in computing or technology can gather to work on projects while sharing ideas, equipment, and knowledge".
ODO’s Angus Stevenson said: "New words, senses, and phrases are added to ODO when we have gathered enough independent evidence from a range of sources to be confident that they have widespread currency in English.
"Publishing online allows us to make the results of our research available more quickly than ever before. On average, we add approximately 1,000 new entries every year, and this quarter’s update highlights some fascinating developments in the English language.
"Portmanteau words, or blends of words, such as phablet and jorts, remain popular, as do abbreviations, seen in new entries such as srsly and apols."
It is not yet clear if the new words will be included in future editions of the Oxford English Dictionary.
