-2

A major factor in the strength of English is its ability to adapt to new technological terms. Robotics is a field with a lot of new terminology. As part of my academic studies, I have encountered the term "teleoperation" a lot. Despite understanding the term, I am confused about why this word is not included in numerous dictionaries. For instance, in the Cambridge dictionary, it spills out this result

We have these words with similar spellings or pronunciations: re-operation, teleportation, etc.

For Longman dictionary, it says

Did you mean: teleportation, teleportations, celebration, etc.

For Oxford English dictionary, it mentions

teleoperation, n: The operation of mechanical devices and systems by remote control.

The Oxford dictionary has some technical definitions, but the word doesn't seem to be highlighted as a new word in English.

What is the reason for not adding teleoperation as a new English word?

Improve this question
9
  • It generally takes a few years for new words to get into dictionaries. They wait until it becomes clear that the word is likely to stick around.
    – Barmar
    Commented Oct 29 at 19:36
  • 1
    And general purpose disctionaries often don't have terms that are only used within industries. If you've encountered it in your studies, I'll bet you're studying robotics. Few people outside that industry will encounter it these days.
    – Barmar
    Commented Oct 29 at 19:37
  • FYI, it is in the full OED.
    – Barmar
    Commented Oct 29 at 19:38
  • For close voters, my opinion is that this question doesn't belong on the meta site. May be "English Language and Usage" stack exchange.
    – CroCo
    Commented Oct 29 at 20:33
  • I voted to close it because I think it belongs on English Language & Usage. It's more general than just learning the language.
    – Barmar
    Commented Oct 29 at 20:34

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
1

For a word to be considered for addition to an English dictionary, various criteria have to be met. Usually:

  1. Widespread Usage
  2. Consistency of Meaning
  3. Longevity
  4. Cultural Relevance
  5. Recorded Evidence

"Teleoperation", as a robotics term, does not have widespread usage - it is not likely to be known outside of the fields of robotics. Anecdotally, I am a native British English speaker who has worked in STEM fields (not robotics) for 32 years and I have never heard the term until now. So that's the first criterion not met.

The term would have to be popularised for it to be considered worthy of a dictionary entry. As an example, internet-related terms (including the word "internet" and other terms like DNS) only began to appear in dictionaries in the mid-1990s, even though the internet was created in the 1960s and the domain naming system in 1983. But the 'dot-com boom' in the 1990s changed these terms from technical jargon into everyday terms, and that's when they warranted a dictionary definition.

Improve this answer
1

Dictionaries are huge, labyrinthine projects that take huge amounts of effort and resources to maintain. The Oxford English Dictionary is probably the most complete (and well funded) and is updated most frequently.

As noted by Barmar, the "teleoperation" is a highly specialised word (though Wiktionary has had a page for it since 2008). Whilst the OED does note that it has been in use since 1916, it has only occured in very niche contexts.

It is likely that other dictionaries simply haven't got there yet. Most modern dictionaries have large corpora and monitor new words rising in usage, such as Merriam-Webster. You are still welcome to contact the dictionaries and ask for more information.

Improve this answer

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .