Explain Like I'm Five | Don't Panic!

This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/explainlikeimfive by /u/Doodlebug510 on 2023-06-27 07:13:47+00:00.

Words come and go over time. But at some point, someone somewhere coins a word. . How does that word blossom from a few people using it, to being a word on everyone's tongue and widely-used, to the extent of earning a spot in the dictionary?

Do the editors sit around and decide on their own? Do they accept input from the general public, i.e., people make nominations for new entries?

How about the opposite, when it comes to removing words?