Dord-What’s in a word?

Dord is a noun in physics and chemistry that means density. Well not really, although it was in the dictionary for 5 years as a valid word.

This was the perfect example that even the brightest minds can make mistakes and also that you should not always believe everything you read..

On February 28, 1939, the word ‘Dord’ was discovered to be an error in the second edition of Webster’s New International Dictionary published in 1934. Dord is an example of a ghost word or a word that was never actually used but appeared in dictionaries.

This spooky apparition is known among lexicographers as a “ghost word.” It didn’t exist, but there it was, on page 771 of the dictionary. And there it stayed until 1939, when an editor figured out what was happening and wrote this note declaring dord to be “&! A ghost word!”

But for some reason the change wasn’t made until 1947.

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Source

Smithsonian