The word “Satoshi” has been officially recognized by the Oxford English Dictionary for the first time, joining a slew of new words to be added to the dictionary this year.
According to the most recent quarterly update of words published by the Oxford University Press, the word has been added to dictionaries, alongside the likes of “Manhattanhenge”, “whatevs” and “chillax.” The update clarifies Satoshi’s usage as a unit of cryptocurrency, as well as highlighting its origins, derived from the founder of Bitcoin himself Satoshi Nakamoto.
Satoshi is the smallest monetary unit in the Bitcoin cryptocurrency, and is named after Satoshi Nakamoto, the—probably pseudonymous—developer(s) of Bitcoin.
According to the new dictionary definition, a Satoshi is the “smallest monetary unit” in BItcoin.
The smallest monetary unit in the Bitcoin digital payment system, equal to one hundred millionth of a bitcoin.
With the addition, Satoshi joins Bitcoin, which was first added to the dictionary in 2014—years before it entered into common usage, though still several years since the term was first…coined.
According to the OED, the term was first used back in 2008, immediately prior to the launch of BTC in 2008, appearing “in a message to an electronic mailing list in 2008 which describes a ‘new electronic cash system’ which is ‘fully peer to peer, with no trusted third party’ handling payments between buyer and seller.”
It noted, “Whether or not the name under which this message was sent, ‘Satoshi Nakamoto’, is a pseudonym, and whether this name is being used by a single person or by a group, Nakamoto’s claim to have coined the word ‘Bitcoin’ seems relatively secure.”
Further, the authoritative dictionary says Satoshi was reportedly born in 1975. However, Dr. Craig Wright, the founder of bitcoin, was in fact born in 1970, and it remains unclear to whom the dictionary refers on this detail. Nevertheless, the inclusion of Satoshi in the dictionary shows the increasingly mainstream nature of the cryptocurrency world.
Following a similar trajectory as use of the word ‘Bitcoin,’ it is expected that “Satoshi” will be more commonly used and understood in the coming years, as essential terminology for those using and discussing crypto for payments.
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