Esquivalience

"Esquivalience" is a fictitious entry in the New Oxford American Dictionary (NOAD), which was designed and included to protect copyright of the publication.

The word was invented by Christine Lindberg, one of the editors of the NOAD^[1] and discovered by Henry Alford^[2].

It was leaked that the dictionary had put in a fake word in the letter "e" and Alford set out to find the word. It was discovered after review of a short list by several experts. When the editor, Erin McKean, was contacted she admitted that it was indeed a fake word and had been in since the first edition, in order to protect the copyright of the CD-ROM edition.

The word is defined as "the wilful avoidance of one's official responsibilities."

The fake entry apparently ensnared dictionary.com, which included an entry for it (that has since been removed) that was attributed to Webster's New Millennium Dictionary, both of which are owned by the private company, Lexico.

See also

• Dord
• Trap street

References

1. ^ Nathan Bierma (September 21, 2005). "Dictionary sets a trap with an invented word". Chicago Tribune. http://www.nbierma.com/language/column/file/050921.htm. 
2. ^ Henry Alford (August 29, 2005). "Not a Word". New Yorker. http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/08/29/050829ta_talk_alford.