How does a word get in a dictionary?
Usage! Lexicographers (people who write dictionaries) include words in standard dictionaries when they find evidence that the words exist and are used in an English context by more than just a few people. Usually this means that enough written citations have been found to demonstrate the word’s currency. For a word to be entered in DARE, it must be a regional or folk term. Our evidence may be written or oral. We do not enter words which occur throughout the standard language; other dictionaries take care of this. And no dictionary will include a word you say you invented.
