Wordia.com - Redefine The Dictionary

As native speakers of a language, we develop what is termed “Linguistic instinct”. This enables us not only to guess the meaning of a word we don’t know from the context, but also to actively toy and play with words we know and their meaning. Coseriu (one of the most notable linguists of recent times) stated that a language is a compendium of both open and closed pathways, and that a native speaker knows how to bend the rules without actually breaking them.


This seems to be the inspiration behind the Wordia website. Basically, the site enables anybody to pick a word which has a specific meaning to him and then record a video of himself defining that word. Once the video has been recorded, the file can be uploaded to the Wordia website for all to see, comment and rate.


This is actually a quite interesting endeavor from the point of view of linguistics. It has been proven by research that writers bend the rules of the languages they have mastered without breaking them. Innovation is the essence of writing, and any site like this one (IE, a site that encourages people to think and ponder on language and its significance) is more than likely to elicit thought among the Internet community. This in turn will showcase the nuances of English, its many quirks, and the affable nature of one of the most important languages in the world today.

“We’re a team of language enthusiasts and general word nuts who have joined forces to create a new kind of dictionary - a democratic ‘visual dictionary’. A place where anyone with a video, webcam or mobile phone can define the words that matter to them in their life.”

It entertains but also educates on the nature of words and language.

Are there limitations when it comes to the actual choice of words that can be submitted? Will similar endeavors in different languages come along?