English language nears 1 million words

AUSTIN, Texas, May 6 (UPI) -- The English language will reach the 1 million word mark next month, researchers in Texas announced Wednesday.

The Global Language Monitor, Austin, Texas, says at its current pace of word creation every 98 minutes, the English Language is expected to reach 1 million words at 5:22 a.m. EDT, June 10.

The last time words were being added to the language at this rate was during the days of William Shakespeare, says Paul Payack, president and chief word analyst at Global Language Monitor.

Payack says approximately 1.53 billion people speak English as a primary, auxiliary or business language.

"English has become, in fact, the first truly global language," he says. "Never before has a single language had the extent and influence as that of English."

Words under consideration as the 1 millionth addition to the English language codex include defollow, defriend, greenwashing, noob and chiconomics.

Global Language Monitor has been tracking English word creation since 2003.