buzzword

See also: buzz-word and buzz word

English

Examples (English words often considered buzzwords)
win-win empowerment paradigm shift sustainability

Alternative forms

• buzz word, buzz-word

Etymology

Coined in the 1970s in the United States, from buzz +‎ word.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbʌzwɜː(ɹ)d/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbʌzwɜɹd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌzwɜː(ɹ)d
• Hyphenation: buzz‧word

Noun

buzzword (plural buzzwords)

1. (sometimes derogatory) A word drawn from, or imitative of, technical jargon, used more to impress others than to convey meaning.

   Their salespeople know all the right buzzwords, but they can't really help you solve your problems.

   • 1972 May 14, Marylyn Bender, “Harvard's Brahmin Radical”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN, archived from the original on 5 October 2022:

     Ideology is a [George Cabot] Lodge buzzword, as they say in business schools, the first word that sends many executives and students who would emulate them, into fury.

   • 2010 August 30, Charlie Brooker, “Buzzwords for blowhards”, in The Guardian‎^[2], archived from the original on 30 May 2023:

     Have you tried doing it yourself? It's not easy. I was hoping to illustrate this article with some self-created buzzwords for leftwingers to use. The first one I came up with was "molehill mountaineer", a pejorative term to describe the sort of perpetually furious rightwing weevil who spends their life calculatedly conflating issues such as the "Ground Zero mosque" into gigantic media crapgasms. […] Because in today's 2,000mph technological freefall, he who coins the catchiest buzzword generally wins the debate by default.

   • 2018 June 19, Gideon Lewis-Kraus, “Inside the Crypto World's Biggest Scandal”, in WIRED‎^[3], →ISSN, archived from the original on 14 August 2018:

     There is great confusion and debate about what a blockchain even is—some people argue it’s become a meaningless buzzword—but the standard definition describes a shared, decentralized, cryptographically secure, immutable digital ledger.

Derived terms

• buzz-phrase
• buzzword bingo
• buzzword compliance
• buzzword compliant
• buzzwordy

Descendants

• → Dutch: buzzword, buzzwoord
• → French: buzzword
• → German: Buzzword
• → Hebrew: זמזומילה (zimzumilá) (calque)
• → Irish: dordfhocal (calque)
• → Polish: buzzword
• → Portuguese: buzzword
• → Swedish: buzzword

Translations

word drawn from or imitative of technical jargon — see also cliche

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 流行詞 / 流行词 (liúxíngcí), 行話 / 行话 (zh) (hánghuà)

• Danish: modeord n
• Dutch: buzzwoord (nl) n, modewoord (nl) n
• Esperanto: zumvorto
• Finnish: iskusana (fi), muotisana (fi), kapulakielinen sana
• German: Modewort (de) n, sinnentleertes Modewort n, Schlagwort (de) n, leeres Schlagwort n, abgedroschene Phrase f, Buzzword n
• Hebrew: זמזומילה f (zimzumilá)
• Hungarian: hívószó (hu), divatszó (hu), bűvszó, frázis (hu), szlogen (hu), klisé (hu)
• Icelandic: tískuorð m
• Irish: dordfhocal m
• Japanese: バズワード (bazuwādo), 流行語 (ja) (りゅうこうご, ryūkōgo)
• Korean: 버즈워드 (beojeuwodeu), 유행어(流行語) (ko) (yuhaeng'eo)
• Macedonian: помодарски збор m (pomodarski zbor)
• Polish: buzzword (pl) m
• Portuguese: buzzword (pt) m or f, palavra de efeito (pt)
• Russian: мо́дное сло́во n (módnoje slóvo)
• Spanish: palabra de moda f, expresión en voga f, cantinela (es) f (colloquial), cantilena f (colloquial), tabarra f (colloquial)
• Swedish: buzzword n
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: thuật ngữ hay

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Estonian: ^{(please verify)} kantseliit

See also

• blind with science

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English buzzword.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /bɐzˈwoʁ.d͡ʒi/ [bɐzˈwoɦ.d͡ʒi], /bɐzˈwoʁd͡ʒ/ [bɐzˈwoɦd͡ʒ]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /bɐzˈwoʁ.d͡ʒi/ [bɐzˈwoɦ.d͡ʒi], /bɐzˈwoʁd͡ʒ/ [bɐzˈwoɦd͡ʒ]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /bɐzˈwoɾ.d͡ʒi/, /bɐzˈwoɾd͡ʒ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /bɐzˈwoʁ.d͡ʒi/, /bɐzˈwoʁd͡ʒ/
  • (Caipira) IPA^(key): /bɐzˈwoɻ.d͡ʒi/, /bɐzˈwoɻd͡ʒ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /bɐzˈwoʁd͡ʒ/ [bɐzˈwoɦd͡ʒ], /bɐzˈwoʁ.d͡ʒi/ [bɐzˈwoɦ.d͡ʒi]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /bɐzˈwoɾd/ [bɐzˈwoɾð]

• Rhymes: -azwoʁdʒi, -azwoɾd
• Hyphenation: buzz‧word

Noun

buzzword f (plural buzzwords)

1. buzzword (fashionable technical jargon)

   Near-synonym: chavão