Spanish Dictionary Adds 'Millennial,' 'Bocachancla' in New Update

The latest electronic update (version 23.8.1) of the Dictionary of the Spanish Language (DLE) now includes new Spanish words such as millennial, farlopa, bocachancla, tourismophobia, bioterrorism, Europhobia, crudivorism, log in, photo news, infectivity, and streaming.

According to Santiago Muñoz Machado, president of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE), this update has "fewer pretensions" than previous editions. He explained it serves as a preview for the upcoming new dictionary, which will be "much more renewed and extensive."

"Most of them are alterations, modifications, rectifications, or improvements," he stated, adding that the 24th edition is expected to be presented in November 2026.

Elena Zamora, head of the Institute of Lexicography, presented the update this Monday. It features 330 new additions, including new terms and expressions, new meanings for previously included entries, amendments to existing entries, and some deletions.

She clarified, "This collection of new dictionary entries isn't a complete update, unlike the full updates of the past 28 years. Instead, it's a sample of the academic work being done before the new edition is published."

Some of the newly incorporated words come from fields like science, health, the environment, and technology. Examples include allelopathy, which describes a process where one living being secretes substances that positively or negatively influence another, and antibiosis, a symbiotic relationship where one organism secretes substances that negatively affect the other.

Regarding the term mena (an acronym for "unaccompanied foreign minor"), which the Dictionary of the Spanish Language defines as "an underage immigrant who does not have the care of any person responsible for them," the dictionary now also notes its sometimes "derogatory" usage.