Made up as a new word

На основании Вашего запроса эти примеры могут содержать грубую лексику.

На основании Вашего запроса эти примеры могут содержать разговорную лексику.

Another option is to make up a new word.

You can even make up a new word for your title.

«Permafrost» means permanently frozen, but now they will have to make up a new word.

«Вечная мерзлота» означает «постоянно замерзший», однако теперь придется придумать новое слово.

In 1788, Thomas Jefferson was so inspired while writing about the natural beauty of his home state, Virginia, that he just had to make up a whole new word to describe it.

В 1788 году Томас Джефферсон был настолько вдохновлен, когда писал о природной красоте своего родного штата, Вирджиния, что ему просто пришлось составить совершенно новое слово, чтобы описать его.

Ничего не найдено для этого значения.

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I’m a lexicographer. I make dictionaries. And my job as a lexicographer is to try to put all the words possible into the dictionary. My job is not to decide what a word is; that is your job.

0:25 Everybody who speaks English decides together what’s a word and what’s not a word. Every language is just a group of people who agree to understand each other. Now, sometimes when people are trying to decide whether a word is good or bad, they don’t really have a good reason. So they say something like, “Because grammar!” (Laughter) I don’t actually really care about grammar too much — don’t tell anybody.

0:51 But the word “grammar,” actually, there are two kinds of grammar. There’s the kind of grammar that lives inside your brain, and if you’re a native speaker of a language or a good speaker of a language, it’s the unconscious rules that you follow when you speak that language. And this is what you learn when you learn a language as a child. And here’s an example: This is a wug, right?

It’s a wug. Now there is another one. There are two of these. There are two … Audience: Wugs.

Erin McKean: Exactly! You know how to make the plural of wug. That rule lives in your brain. You never had to be taught this rule, you just understand it. This is an experiment that was invented by a professor at [Boston University] named Jean Berko Gleason back in 1958. So we’ve been talking about this for a long time.

1:36 Now, these kinds of natural rules that exist in your brain, they’re not like traffic laws, they’re more like laws of nature. And nobody has to remind you to obey a law of nature, right? When you leave the house in the morning, your mom doesn’t say, “Hey, honey, I think it’s going to be cold, take a hoodie, don’t forget to obey the law of gravity.” Nobody says this. Now, there are other rules that are more about manners than they are about nature. So you can think of a word as like a hat. Once you know how hats work, nobody has to tell you, “Don’t wear hats on your feet.” What they have to tell you is, “Can you wear hats inside? Who gets to wear a hat? What are the kinds of hats you get to wear?” Those are more of the second kind of grammar, which linguists often call usage, as opposed to grammar.

2:27 Now, sometimes people use this kind of rules-based grammar to discourage people from making up words. And I think that is, well, stupid. So, for example, people are always telling you, “Be creative, make new music, do art, invent things, science and technology.” But when it comes to words, they’re like,”Don’t! No. Creativity stops right here, whippersnappers. Give it a rest.” (Laughter) But that makes no sense to me. Words are great. We should have more of them. I want you to make as many new words as possible. And I’m going to tell you six ways that you can use to make new words in English.

3:06 The first way is the simplest way. Basically, steal them from other languages.

Linguists call this borrowing, but we never give the words back , so I’m just going to be honestand call it stealing. We usually take words for things that we like, like delicious food. We took “kumquat” from Chinese, we took “caramel” from French. We also take words for cool things like “ninja,” right? We took that from Japanese, which is kind of a cool trick because ninjas are hard to steal from. (Laughter)

3:38 So another way that you can make words in English is by squishing two other English words together. This is called compounding. Words in English are like Lego: If you use enough force, you can put any two of them together. (Laughter) We do this all the time in English: Words like “heartbroken,” “bookworm,” “sandcastle” all are compounds. So go ahead and make words like “duckface,” just don’t make duckface. (Laughter)

4:06 Another way that you can make words in English is kind of like compounding, but instead you use so much force when you squish the words together that some parts fall off. So these are blend words, like “brunch” is a blend of “breakfast” and “lunch.” “Motel” is a blend of “motor” and “hotel.” Who here knew that “motel” was a blend word? Yeah, that word is so old in English that lots of people don’t know that there are parts missing. “Edutainment” is a blend of “education” and “entertainment.” And of course, “electrocute” is a blend of “electric” and “execute.”

4:45 You can also make words by changing how they operate. This is called functional shift. You take a word that acts as one part of speech, and you change it into another part of speech. Okay, who here knew that “friend” hasn’t always been a verb? “Friend” used to be noun and then we verbed it. Almost any word in English can be verbed. You can also take adjectives and make them into nouns. “Commercial” used to be an adjective and now it’s a noun. And of course, you can “green” things.

5:16 Another way to make words in English is back-formation. You can take a word and you can kind of squish it down a little bit. So for example, in English we had the word “editor” before we had the word “edit.””Edit” was formed from “editor.” Sometimes these back-formations sound a little silly: Bulldozers bulldoze, butlers butle and burglers burgle. (Laughter)

5:38 Another way to make words in English is to take the first letters of something and squish them together. So National Aeronautics and Space Administration becomes NASA. And of course you can do this with anything, OMG!

5:49 So it doesn’t matter how silly the words are. They can be really good words of English. “Absquatulate” is a perfectly good word of English. “Mugwump” is a perfectly good word of English. So the words don’t have have to sound normal, they can sound really silly.

6:09 Why should you make words? You should make words because every word is a chance to express your idea and get your meaning across. And new words grab people’s attention. They get people to focus on what you’re saying and that gives you a better chance to get your meaning across. A lot of people on this stage today have said, “In the future, you can do this, you can help with this, you can help us explore, you can help us invent.” You can make a new word right now. English has no age limit. Go ahead, start making words today, send them to me, and I will put them in my online dictionary, Wordnik. Thank you so much. (Applause)

I wonder if you have heard of the word compofluous? I’m sure it’s a new word to many people. It means “something that seems ridiculous, and yet is a reality.” We take it for granted that massive planes weighing hundreds of tons can fly across the sky. Two hundred years ago such a thought would have been ridiculous. But today planes are a reality. The fact that we can see and talk to people on the other side of the world, at the speed of light—without the use of wires—would have seemed absurd one hundred years ago. But things like Skype and FaceTime are facts of life. Much of modern technology is compofluous.

“We take it for granted that massive planes weighing hundreds of tons can fly across the sky. Two hundred years ago such a thought would have been ridiculous.”

It was because I kept misspelling the word “Thanks” as “Thnaks” at the end of emails that I considered making it a new word. That would have solved my typo problem. The thought sparked the question as to who it is that makes up new words. Could “thnaks” ever be seriously considered as an alternative word to express appreciation?

After some research, I discovered that it is dictionary publishers who determine what to add to the million or so existing English words, and that they come up with about a thousand new words each year.

The Guardian added,

But these represent just a sliver of the tip of the iceberg. According to Global Language Monitor, around 5,400 new words are created every year; it’s only the 1,000 or so deemed to be in sufficiently widespread use that make it into print.¹

Another curiosity I have has to do with the first word that Adam said. I wonder what it was? “Hello”? “Huh”? Or as a brand-new human being, was he like a newborn babe in his understanding? I seriously doubt that he began life with “Goo-goo” and “Dadda.” I think God would have given him the intuitive ability to think, speak, and communicate. He would have been mature in body, mind, and soul, and that meant he had the ability to speak a complete and intelligible language. His first recorded words are given to us in Scripture:

And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said:

“This is now bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.” (Genesis 2:21–23)

Adam made up a new word: “Woman.” Previous to this, he’d been busy making up other new words for the Eden dictionary—words for animals that presumably had huge ears, long trunks, extended necks, massive tails, stripes or patches, that mooed, barked, and squawked—animals that crawled, jumped, walked, flew, and ran. God brought them to him specifically to be named by Adam:

Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. (Genesis 2:19,20)

Necessity is the mother of invention, and the fact that Adam was surrounded by so many animals meant that he needed help. It wasn’t good that man should be alone (Genesis 2:18); he needed a companion, a life mate. The farm was getting too big for one man. But this new creation didn’t come from the soil. Neither was it an animal. It was, like Adam, made in the image of God—a special creation, and it came as a special delivery. God Himself presented this present to him. It was different from the massive elephants, the tall giraffes, or the beautiful birds. It walked upright on two legs like him. It was made of the same flesh as Adam, but it had a different shape and look. Attractively different.

“How is it that a baby looks into the eyes of his parents? No one teaches him to do that. Why does he open his mouth and utter a cry to communicate need? So many things happen in life that don’t make sense.”

Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor could it enter into our imaginations what it was like in that garden, because our imaginations are based on what we know of this fallen world. But Eden must have been out of this world.

It would have been strange for Adam to have expressed himself from the moment of his creation, especially if he did it with no knowledge of the origin of his words. But even in our fallen state, we see minor miracles. How is it that a baby looks into the eyes of his parents? No one teaches him to do that. Why does he open his mouth and utter a cry to communicate need? So many things happen in life that don’t make sense. How is it that a child uses the word “actually”? It’s common to hear it. Most adults would hesitate to explain the use of the word if we were put on the spot. Yet a small child uses it in the correct context, without training.

But think of a man who has severe amnesia. He actually doesn’t remember anything—who he is or where he is from. As far as he is concerned, he didn’t exist until the moment he awoke from a coma. Yet he can actually express himself, and if he was educated, he does so with eloquent words. It does seem ridiculous that any man would have no knowledge that he could speak, and yet to his own amazement, he can speak and do so eloquently. Which is certainly compofluous—“something that seems ridiculous, and yet is a reality.”

Actually, I made up the word, and I’d be grateful if you would try to use it daily—which may seem ridiculous, but if enough people use it, it may become a reality. And that would be compofluous.

1. Andy Bodle, “How New Words Are Born,” The Guardian, February 4, 2016 <tinyurl.com/yas6q6xr>.

Now let us consider the basic
ways of forming words in the English language.

Affixation. Classification
of affixes. Productivity of affixes.

Af, is
forming a word by combining a stem and derivational af.:
luck-lucky-unlucky. As a rule prefixes
change only the meaning of the word, the part of speech remains the
same. As for suffixes,
they only make up a new word which belongs to a different part of
speech. Derivational
aff. are classified according to the following principle:
etymological,
lexico-grammatical (parts-of-speech principle), semantic.

According
to the 1st one aff.
are divided into native and borrowed ones: helpful – native,
revolution – comes from French. If a word consists of a native and
a borrowed M. called a hybrid: beautiful (Romanic (borrowed) +
Germanic (native)

According
to the 2nd principle aff.
can be noun, adj., verb, adv.-forming. –ish is a productive,
native, adj.-forming suff.

According
to 3rd every aff.
has its own lexical meaning. F.ex.: Everyone took part in decoration
of the hall. The decoration was beautiful. In the 1st the meaning is
that of process. In the 2nd the suff. denotes to the result of the
process.

Productivity
is a historical category. Word-building means change with the
historical development of the language. Productive
aff.
are those which are able to form new words at a certain historical
period. –tion, -ful are productive while –en (shorten) was
productive in O.E. Productivity must not be mixed up with frequency
of usage: some aff. can be non-productive now but frequently used.
Toothsome=tasty.

Word-composition
(compounding)

Compounding or
word-composition is one of the productive means of word-formation in
Modern English. Compounds are words that are made up of two immediate
constituents which are both derivative bases. Derivative bases in
compounds can have different degrees of complexity:

1. both bases are simple
(weekend, girlfriend).

2. one base is simple, the
other is derivative (a shoemaker).

3. one base is compound and
the other is either simple or derivative (fancy-dress ->
fancydress-ball, маскарад; fancydress-maker).

Conversion.

— 1)
hand-handful, 2)hand-to hand. In 1 a new word was formed by aff., in
2 by means of conversion (zero derivation). Conversion
is a special type of derivation in which the word-forming means is
the paradigm of the word. In our ex. The paradigms of the word are
different. So a verb is formed from the noun by conversion. This
approach was worked out by professor Смирнитский. It is
called morphological approach to conversion.

— «If you
are lucky, you’ll have a good buy». Ther’s another approach to
conversion, which is worked out by prof. Арнольд. She treats
C.
as a morphologo-syntactical way of forming word.
The word «buy» is a noun, formed from the verb to buy and the proof
may be found in the syntactical characteristics of the word. If
function in the sentence is that as a direct object. Besides it has a
descriptive attribute and the article a. All these characteristics
are typical for the Eng.noun.
Cases of C. are accompanied by syntactic change.
For ex. when a verb is made from the noun then may be the following
changes: 1)nose-to nise, hammer-to hammer – The noun is the name of
a tool and the verb is the name of an action performed by this tool.
2)dog-to dog (следовать по пятам), monkey-to monkey
(гримасничать) – the noun is the name of an animal and
the verb denotes behavior typical of for that animal. Love-to love –
it is no always easy to say which of the pair is the original word
and which was made by conversion. For ex. if we look at the pair
synchronically in M.E. to love is formed by conversion.
Diachronically, these words are not linked by conversion. Their
identity is the result of historical development. In O.E. there was a
noun “lufu” and a verb “lufian”. Due to the dropping of the
ending and other processes we have homonyms today.

C. is productive in M.E.
because of the character of the language. Root words are typical for
its structure and they easily enter conversion pairs. Russian words
have flections so we don’t speak about C. in Rus.

Shortening.

S. – is
the process of substituting a part for a whole. S.
may be dif. Kinds:
1)
Clipping
is cutting off a part of a word to one or two syllables. The beg. Of
the word is shortened: phone<-telephone, the middle of the word
shortened: mart<-market, the end is shortened: ed(editor),
ad(advertisement). 2)abbreviation
is
forming a word out of the initial elements of a word combination: MP
(member of parliament), UNO, FBI, CIA (Central Intelligence Agency),
USA. Often met in newspaper style.

Minor types
of word building are important as aff. and conversion: 1)blending
is
combining parts of 2 words to form one word:
brunch<->breakfast+lunch, smog<->smoke+fog,
magalog<->magazine+catalog.
Sound and stress interchange is
a way of making words by changing the phonetic shape of the root. It
was production in O.E.: full-fill, blood-bleed, sing-song,
‘present-pre’sent, ‘conflict-con’flict, ‘con’duct,
abstract (a.):: ab’stract. Sound-imitative
(onomatopoeic) words are made by imitating different kinds of sounds
that may be produced by animals, birds, in­sects, human beings
and inanimate objects, e.g.: babble, bang, buzz, crash, giggle, hiss,
moo, purr, rustle, etc.

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How’s your vocabulary? While it might already be robust, breaking out the big words will only take you so far these days. It seems that now more than ever, we’re hearing new words and hybrid terms people have created — especially from our kids. And since, as parents, our perpetual mission is figuring out how to communicate with our offspring, having a few made-up words in your back pocket may prove pretty darn useful. Yep, we’ve reached the season of life where we have to ask, “Isn’t that what the kids are saying these days?” But even if you don’t have a tween or teen obsessed with TikTok terminology, made-up words can be a super fun topic to discuss around the dinner table with younger kids.

So, with that in mind, keep reading for a whole bunch of made-up words you can use to strike up a conversation with your family. Some of these terms people use in everyday life, but many of them might be entirely new to you. Go ahead and try them out! After, if you want to pad your ever-expanding vocabulary even more — and, by proxy, your kids’ — carve out a few minutes to learn some cool travel words, descriptive nature words, or, for the foodie families out there, interesting words to describe food.

Common and Famous Made-Up Words

You’ve probably heard these words before and might not realize that they are totally made up. And some of them were so popular when they came out that they will probably never leave our minds again.

1. Dinglehopper

The dinglehopper was a fork from a sunken ship that Disney’s Ariel and Flounder explored in The Little Mermaid. She didn’t know the term fork, so her prized possession was called a dinglehopper. You can use it today for anything you don’t know the name of.

Example: “Suzie, can you come by and give me a hand. I don’t have a clue how to get this motor going. I fiddled with the dinglehopper and everything!”

2. Californication

After writing the hit song and album with the same name, LA-based band Red Hot Chili Peppers made the word Californication trendy. But a fun fact is they didn’t actually invent that word. A combination of California and fornication, the word appeared on a 1966 cover of Time magazine describing “the haphazard, mindless development that has already gobbled up most of Southern California.”

Example: “I’m watching so much TMZ lately. I’m getting sucked in by Californication.”

3. Irregardless

Those who use this word often mean to say “regardless.” Regardless is already a negative, and adding “ir” makes it a meaningless double negative. Also, there’s a general preconception that people who use the word irregardless are trying to sound more intelligent.

Example: “Irregardless of your opinion, the fact is that you’re wrong.”

4. Misunderestimate

George W. Bush accidentally termed this word. It essentially means to underestimate by mistake. While you can underestimate and misestimate, misunderestimate is not a “real” word, despite its usage.

Example: “Don’t misunderestimate me!”

5. Nom

A word made famous by the legendary Cookie Monster, noms as a noun means “food.” It’s derived from nomnom, which references pleasurable eating noises we make while eating something tasty (like cookies!). Nom can also be used as a verb.

Example: “Candy! Nom nom nom!” or, in verb form, “I nommed the whole pizza!”

6. Snozzwangers

This word comes from the creative mind of Roald Dahl. They are predatory animals that live in Oompah Loompa Land. They have three feet and are known to eat Oompah Loompas.

Example: “When the Snozzwangers became hungry, they hunted for Oompah Loompas.”

7. Snark

To criticize indirectly and sarcastically.

Example: After the boy lost the game, he said snarky remarks to the other children.

Phony Phrases That Sound Cool

These made-up words sound so cool you’ll want to start using them right away.

1. A Crapella

No matter how good you think you sound when you’re rocking out with your headphones on, let’s be real — it isn’t always pretty. A crapella describes that headphone-listening-type-of-singing.

Example: “What’d you say? I couldn’t hear you over my own a crapella.”

2. Air Stair

Have you ever walked down a flight of stairs and suddenly stepped down heavily on a step that isn’t there? You just found an air stair.

Example: “I hit the air stair so hard I thought I broke my foot.”

3. Blamestorming

You know when you catch your kids in a foiled attempt to do so, and the litany of finger-pointing explanations begin? Like, “This wouldn’t have happened if [insert sibling’s name] had just done what they were supposed to do!” That’s blamestorming.

Example: “They were too busy blamestorming to come up with a decent solution.”

4. Carcolepsy

As a parent, you might not know this term — but you’ve likely taken advantage of the phenomenon. It describes someone’s propensity to pass out as soon as the car starts moving. (Remember all those rides around the neighborhood when your kid was little because they’d only sleep in their car seat?)

Example: “Baby needs a nap, so I’m gonna drive around the block a few times and let carcolepsy do the heavy lifting.”

5. Nerdjacking

Sometimes a person takes over a conversation by introducing an obscure topic (or bringing up a common one) in excessive and often unnecessary detail. This is nerdjacking.

Example: “When we talked about the cast of the new Spider-Man movie, Sean started nerdjacking the conversation with facts from the comic book.”

6. Stallmate

Picture this. You and another person are in two toilet stalls next to each other. You’re both waiting for the other to make the first move/splash. You’re stuck in a stalemate.

Example: “We sat in complete silence for several minutes before my neighbor got so frustrated, she decided to end the stallmate by leaving the bathroom.”

7. Suckrifice

This noun means to do what you know is necessary, even though you really, truly don’t want to do it. So, you know, half of parenting. Welcome to the suck!

Example: “I’ve got to bake three dozen cupcakes for my daughter’s swim meet fundraiser. What a suckrifice.”

8. Caroma

This word is a combination of two words: car and aroma. It’s used to describe the smell of a car.

Example: “When I got into my sister’s car, it had a Caroma of goldfish crackers, baby wipes, and diaper powder.”

9. Cellfish

This is used to describe someone who pays more attention to their phone than the world around them.

Example: “My teenage daughter had turned into a complete cellfish. Her phone was practically glued to her hand.”

10. Chairdrobe

This is a chair that you put all your clothes on. It’s usually that pile of clothes in the corner of your room.

Example: “When I woke up in the middle of the night, I thought my chairdrobe was a person, which is definitely a sign to hang up my clothes.”

Phony Phrases That Sound Smart

Despite being totally made-up words, these sound like they could come out of the mouth of the smartest person in the room.

1. Destinesia

You suffer from destinesia when you forget where you’re going or the purpose of the journey once you get there.

Example: “Damn, I got destinesia. I completely forgot why I went down to the basement.”

2. Epiphinot

Sometimes we have an epiphany that changes the entire course of our lives for the better. And sometimes, we have one that turns out to be pointless, dumb, or incorrect. This is an epiphinot.

Example: “On Friday, I had an amazing idea to make big money that turned out to be an epiphinot when I crunched the numbers on Monday.”

3. Internest

You know when your teen curls up on the couch or in their bed, cocooning in a pile of blankets while they scroll TikTok for hours on end? That blanket cocoon is their internest. Get it? Internet + nest.

Example: “Willow, crawl out of your internest — it’s time for dinner!”

4. Preteentious

This one hits differently once your kid enters the double-digit era. What’s it mean? Well, it’s the level of histrionics only achievable by tweens.

Example: “My preteentious 12-year-old just rolled their eyes and said I ruined their life because I bought cinnamon Life cereal instead of regular.”

5. Ringxiety

Have you ever answered your phone only to realize it was a bird chirping outside or sound from the TV? Ringxiety is when we confuse the sound of a cell phone ringing with a sound similar to it. The term can also be used when you hear no sound at all but still imagine the sensation of your phone vibrating even when it doesn’t.

Example: “I keep hearing my phone vibrate in my purse even though my phone is off. Total ringxiety.”

6. Textpectation

Whereas ringxiety describes the feeling of imagining your phone is ringing or vibrating when it isn’t, textpectation describes another form of digital nervousness: the anticipation you feel waiting for a response to a text you’ve sent.

Example: “I texted Maria to ask if she wanted to switch carpool days, and she hasn’t responded. The textpectation is killing me!”

Gen Z Words

Wondering what the kids are talking about on TikTok? Here are some of the most common terms.

1. Cheugy

Cheugy is an adjective that describes millennials who try too hard to be in Style or trendy.

Example: “My mom tried doing a TikTok dance yesterday. She’s so cheugy.”

2. Ded/💀

As a surprise to many, ded means “lol” as if something was so funny it killed you.

Example: “That girl’s joke had me ded!”

3. Drip

For those of us still holding onto swag, this is essentially the same idea — it’s when someone has a cool, sexy sense of style.

Example: “Donald Glover has some serious drip.”

4. IYKYK

This acronym stands for “If you know, you know.” Use IYKYK to describe an inside joke or something that wouldn’t make sense to most people.

Example: “Last night was insane! #iykyk”

5. No Cap/Capping

In this context, cap means “lie.” When someone says “no cap,” it means they aren’t lying.

Example: “Coach said I’m starting in the game tomorrow, no cap.”

6. Basic

This isn’t a nice word to call your friends, but you can use it to describe someone or something unoriginal or mainstream.

Example: “I didn’t know what to wear to the party, so I got something vintage to avoid being basic.”

7. Bet

This is a short and super cool way of saying you agree.

Example: “Can you meet me at the house tomorrow?” “Bet.”

This article was originally published on November 24, 2021

As other answers note, the history of trying to invent a gender-neutral singular pronoun in English is littered with failures, nonce usages, and usages that become popular in insular communities but don’t catch hold in dialect-wide populations. Indeed, while any invented word has hurdles to overcome before it is accepted and widely used, pronouns are an especially difficult class of word to change. Why is that? What would have to happen for an invented gender neutral pronoun to be accepted in English?

How does a pronoun become established in English?

In short: a linguistic need arises and a nearby available tool is adopted to meet it.

First, pronouns have not been invented often in the history of English. The most widely-known example is the importation of they/them/their from Old Norse instead of hie/hem/hier, which is widely documented in texts on Old and Middle English (see e.g. Brown 2009). In this case, the change started with Norse settlement in the north of England, and grew over a few centuries. It helped that the forms weren’t that far off from the Old English pronouns, and that they/them/their provided the additional benefit of being clearly distinguished from other pronouns like he, him, and her. So a possible need for disambiguating pronouns was met by a nearby tool — an adjacent language’s pronouns.

Newer pronominal forms like yinz and y’all have formed within dialects from the 19th century onward (Crystal 2011). The history of y’all shows how a need (how to distinguish a plural second person after the separate singular form thou disappears from use) is met with adding a modifier (you all), how that modifier was gradually contracted (y’all), and even how that existing form has now sometimes been adopted as a singular pronoun (as Crystal reports: «Howdy y’all» and «Y’all take care now» being delivered to one person).

In contrast, neologistic pronouns usually don’t stick around. Pronouns are considered a closed class (ThoughtCo), which means that new words usually don’t catch on to the class. That’s why I don’t have any examples of wildly successful pronouns made ex nihilo.

To adapt this pattern to the current situation:

• We need a gender-neutral third person pronoun

• The resulting pronoun will most likely be an existing tool adapted to the new situation, since they’re joining a closed class of word

What Are the Likely Candidates for Inclusion?

They/Them/Their/Themselves/Themself
As you note, one word is already being widely adopted for use as a gender-neutral singular pronoun: singular they. Present in English since the 14th century, especially for following singular antecedents like anyone and someone, singular they has also been adopted as a pronominal set by people who desire a gender-ambivalent option. Merriam-Webster describes its growth:

They is taking on a new use, however: as a pronoun of choice for someone who doesn’t identify as either male or female. This is a different use than the traditional singular they, which is used to refer to a person whose gender isn’t known or isn’t important in the context […] The new use of they is direct, and it is for a person whose gender is known, but who does not identify as male or female. If I were introducing a friend who preferred to use the pronoun they, I would say, “This is my friend, Jay. I met them at work.”

So we have a need for people who don’t identify as male or female to have a pronoun suited to them, and a tool that — while not originally nonbinary — did escape the conventional association with a single gender. So people who heard it and didn’t initially understand its use would have a better chance of puzzling it out, or remembering its use afterwards. That makes they an effective option.

Variants like themself also show considerable promise, since the form *predates *themselves** but had fallen in popularity in the early modern period (Merriam-Webster). It encounters the problem that themselves, with the plural selves, may be perceived as plural in singular contexts. Having the available historical context, and the well-known word self available, helps the argument for themself, though it has not caught on widely in publications.

Other Pronouns — What Might Stop Them?
Other proposed pronouns include xe and xir, hir, and many others (UWM). They involve changing vowels or consonants to create new and distinct forms. These forms have big hurdles that they need to overcome:

• familiarity, or how to make these sound comprehensible and clear upon a first or second usage, compared to the other available options

• pronunciation, or how to make the sounds

Xe and hir do okay, at least in writing, because they are relatively close to a recognizable pronoun. With xe, a reader can puzzle out that the h/sh of he or she have been replaced by an x that is neither one. Hir looks kind of halfway between him and her. Neither is quite as familiar as they.

Regarding pronunciation, it may not be clear how to pronounce the x in xe: is it /zi/ or /ɛksˈi/ or /ʃi/? With hir, it may not be clear how to distinguish the vowel from related vowels, like the one in her. Neither are insurmountable with a little teaching, but that in itself poses an issue in a closed system — new pronouns have tended to spread without being formally taught. So it will take some time to see if the proponents of these new pronouns can make the words catch on.

So combined, issues of familiarity and pronunciation may hinder these other pronouns from taking their place in the general population, even if they’re familiar to the LGBT community and many of their allies. Even if, in theory, we agree that a totally separate third person nonbinary pronoun would be better, they benefits from being more familiar and easier to say.