16 words that are much older than they seem

Every generation likes to think it invented slang anew, but often the latest words are actually very old

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1. FRIEND, AS A VERB

A common lament in pieces about "kids these days and their social whatsawhozits" is "when did 'friend' become a verb?!" The answer is: Sometime in the 1400s. In the earliest examples of the verb "friend" from the OED, it means to make friends. You could go to a place, and "friend" some people there. It also had the meaning of help someone out, be a friend to them, e.g., "Reports came that the King would friend Lauderdale," an example from 1698.

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Arika Okrent

Arika Okrent is editor-at-large at TheWeek.com and a frequent contributor to Mental Floss. She is the author of In the Land of Invented Languages, a history of the attempt to build a better language. She holds a doctorate in linguistics and a first-level certification in Klingon. Follow her on Twitter.