Google joins Xerox as a verb

Though you may have been "googling" people for years, the verb you were using was technically slang, until recently.

In fact, many regularly used tech words are just now getting the official stamp of approval from English-language dictionaries.

On Thursday, Merriam-Webster announced its latest update, and the new science and technology words added to the venerable dictionary include agritourism, biodiesel, mouse potato, ringtone and spyware.

And google is defined as a transitive verb meaning "to use the Google search engine to obtain information about (as a person) on the World Wide Web." While the entry retains capitalisation in explaining the word's etymology -- "Google, trademark for a search engine" -- the verb google is lowercase.

"A noun turns into a verb very often. Google is a unique case. Because they have achieved so much prominence in the world of search, people have been using the word google as a generic verb now. Our main aim is to respond to the use of the language that we see. We consider ourselves very respectful of trademark. That (google as a lowercase verb) is really a lexicographical judgment based on the evidence that was analysed," Thomas Pitoniak, the associate editor and composition manager for Merriam-Webster, told CNET.com.au sister site CNET News.com.

Becoming synonymous with an invention may hold a certain amount of historic glory for a company, but ubiquitous use of the company's name to describe something can make it harder to enforce a trademark. Bayer lost Aspirin as a US trademark in 1921 after it was determined that the abbreviation for acetylsalicylic acid had become a generic term. The trademarks Band-Aid, Kleenex, Rollerblade and Xerox have had similar issues.

Merriam-Webster's definition of "googling," however, specifically refers to a Google search, not just any search done on the Internet. So far, the company is OK with the new definition.

"Defining google as a verb and as using the Google search engine is appropriate," a representative for Google told CNET News.com in an e-mail.

The Merriam-Webster editorial team analyses print, radio and television, as well as the Net, as sources for new words and usage.

"It's a many-side beast, this electronic media; it also involves the acceleration and spreading of words and meanings. The Internet has been an amazingly useful resource for us and in our work. However, when we look to the Internet, including journalistic sources, there is a whole set of challenges involved. Part of the problem is that you don't know if it's an intentional variation, or someone does not know how to use the word correctly," said Pitoniak.

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED), which released its update June 15, also added Google as a verb, but it retained the capitalisation. The OED also included a wide range of both quirky and commonplace tech terms that Merriam-Webster has not yet deemed dictionary worthy.

The new words from Merriam-Webster are already available online, and will be included in the 2006 print version of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition, due out later this year.

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Noah Webster's "A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language," the Merriam-Webster Web site is featuring a glossary highlighting Webster's original entries. These are words that were commonly used in America but were not yet found in any English language dictionary. Some of Webster's science and mathematics terms (the earliest known use of the word technology was not until 1859) included: aeriform, caloric, decahedron, electrician, galvanism, ignescent, vaccine and vaporize.