[Grammar] Is unresponsible a word?

[Sneymarin]

Hello, I am wondering whether "unresponsible" is a real word as I've seen it on a couple of online dictionaries with the meaning of "irresponsible":
https://www.lexico.com/definition/unresponsible
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unresponsible
https://www.yourdictionary.com/unresponsible
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Unresponsible

I would like to hear your opinions on whether it's correct to use this word.

Thank you for your time

 

[jutfrank]

No, it isn't. I can't think of a use for it.

If you mean irresponsible, say irresponsible.

 

[tedmc]

Apparently it was used in the old days but not anymore.

https://books.google.com/ngrams/gra...=t1;,Irresponsible;,c0;.t1;,unresponsible;,c0

 

[Sneymarin]

I've also seen "unresponsible" in the Webster 1913 Dictionary. Is this dictionary wrong as well? I heard it's a quality dictionary.

 

[GoesStation]

I've also seen "unresponsible" in the Webster 1913 Dictionary. Is this dictionary wrong as well? I heard it's a quality dictionary.

The dictionary isn't wrong. It may well have been an excellent dictionary in 1913. Today, it's a hundred-year-old dictionary which may be historically interesting but is not useful for learning how words are used in 2020.

When a dictionary only defines a word with a link to another, similar word, it means the word you're looking up is rarely used and you should use the other one.

Dictionaries don't answer the question "Is this a word?" They tell you something about every word they contain.

 

[Sneymarin]

Dictionaries may not be made to answer that question, but if it's contained in a dictionary, then it's technically a real word, even if a rarely used one, right?

 

[Raymott]

No, if it's in a dictionary, it was a word when the dictionary was written.
You'll find the following in an Old English Dictionary (if you can find one) but, with two exceptions, they are not current English words.

Hwæt. We Gardena in geardagum,
þeodcyninga, þrym gefrunon,
hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon.

 

[jutfrank]

There are no criteria for determining whether something counts as a real word. If your only test is whether there are any instances of it appearing in any dictionary, from any time, then I think you've already proved your point.

 

[GoesStation]

Dictionaries may not be made to answer that question, but if it's contained in a dictionary, then it's technically a real word, even if a rarely used one, right?

It's something the dictionary's editors considered significant enough to include. They aren't authorities with the power to decide what is or is not a word. No such authority exists.

 

[Raymott]

I thought something was a real word if it was allowed in Scrabble, like je, za, vu, etc. j/k

 

[Sneymarin]

Then how do we determine whether a word is correct or not in writing/speaking? Based on whether it's a used word or not at the time of writing/speaking? Are all archaic and dated words incorrect then? "Unresponsible" has only been out of use for a 100 years (based on the fact that it was included in the Webster 1913 Dictionary); I still see archaic words being sometimes used in writing and not considered incorrect even if the vast majority of people don't use them anymore.

 

[Raymott]

You use a modern dictionary. But it's your choice whether you want to use a 100-year-old dictionary and write in archaic English. It can only make you appear foreign or weird. You will see old words in old novels. You can still read them, but you don't have to use those words yourself.

 

[Sneymarin]

But is using archaic/dated words with modern grammar considered proper English? "Apothecary" and "aliment" are archaic words but are they incorrect in today speech/writing?

 

[GoesStation]

But is using archaic/dated words with modern grammar considered proper English? "Apothecary" and "aliment" are archaic words but are they incorrect in today speech/writing?

There is no simple answer to this question. Both those words are fine in the right context.

 

[jutfrank]

Then how do we determine whether a word is correct or not in writing/speaking?

"Apothecary" and "aliment" are archaic words but are they incorrect in today speech/writing?

'Incorrect'? What do you mean? In what way do you think a word can be correct or incorrect?

 

[probus]

New words are constantly being coined. Some catch on and become part of the language while others do not and fade away. A good example is the slang word rubberneck, meaning to gawk. Some authorities called it "good slang" and predicted it would last, but it has largely fallen out of use. I'm sure it has appeared in some dictionaries.

 

[GoesStation]

A good example is the slang word rubberneck, meaning to gawk. Some authorities called it "good slang" and predicted it would last, but it has largely fallen out of use. I'm sure it has appeared in some dictionaries.

Its derivative rubbernecker is used every day in American radio traffic reports.

 

[jutfrank]

The way that language generally works is by consensus. Words only count as words if people use them. But how many people need to use a word for it to count? What's the minimum number? Two? One?

I can make up a word at will—let's say 'frish'. Now, that definitely is a word—you can't argue with that. The problem with it, apart from that it doesn't have a meaning, is that it is not used. The fact that it is not used means that lexicographers (people who compile dictionaries) will not pick up on it, and it will not be included in any dictionary.

We have to remember that dictionary writers cannot pick up on every word that is used, as this is an impossible task. This partly explains why no two dictionaries are identical. It seems to me that if one really must answer the question of what counts as a word, a reasonable approach would be to say that if it can be found in 50% of all dictionaries published in the last two or three years (lexicographers need time to respond to the fact that new words are constantly being coined), then it can be said that it counts as a word.

Still, there are several complications here, not least sociolectic words (I'm including here dialect words, slang words, and any other words used by small, or insular speech groups), many of which are never picked up by the bigger, 'standard' dictionaries. I could probably list right now dozens of slang words that I use or have used in my life that you would not find in any dictionary, and which few people reading this will have ever heard before.

 

[Rover_KE]

Sneymarin, unresponsible was used a few times way back in the 19th century. [click]

Forget it.