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.
“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
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