‘Bioprinting’ Officially Becomes a Word, Enters Oxford Dictionaries

Every day new applications for 3D printing are being discovered. Whether it’s 3D printing drones with the electronics built into them, or 3D printing human tissue for drug toxicity testing, the research being done and discoveries being made are often times unbelievable.

The area of 3D bioprinting is probably one of the most interesting, at least to me. It’s quite clear that someday in the not too distant future many of us will eventually have 3D printed body parts both inside and outside of our bodies. The prospects of bioprinting are staggering. As the technology develops over the coming decade and individuals begin recieving bioprinted organs and other biological components, there is no doubt that the term ‘bioprinting’ will become a commonly used word within the English vocabulary.

Up until just yesterday, however, there was a bit of a problem. Bioprinting was not actually recognized as a word at all. Yep, I have been using it in dozens of my articles over the last year not even realizing that the word wasn’t really a word at all, at least not according to many dictionaries like OxfordDictionaries.com.

It is my pleasure, however, to point out that as of yesterday ‘bioprinting’ is now recognized as an English word according to one of the leading online dictionaries, Oxford Dictionaries. According to the online reference, the definition is as follows:

“The use of 3D printing technology with materials that incorporate viable living cells, e.g. to produce tissue for reconstructive surgery.”

They even provide the term within a couple of clever little example sentences, among them:

“Welcome to the age of bioprinting, where the machines we’ve built are building bits and pieces of us.”

‘Bioprinting’ has joined several other contemporary words such as ‘ride-share’, ‘unbox’ and ‘vishing’.

OxfordDictionaries.com provides a quarterly update where several words are usually added which have been recently born out of new trends, technologies, or events. It’s very important for reference books like that of OxfordDictionaries.com to stay relevant by providing such updates in a timely manner. Now myself and the rest of our staff can breathe a collective sign of relief as we cover all the stories related to bioprinting, without feeling the heavy burden of guilt associated with using unofficial words.

What 3D printing terms will be next to enter the dictionary? Any guesses? Let’s hear your thoughts on this recent news in the ‘Bioprinting Now a Word’ forum thread on 3DPB.com