NONCE WORD

a word coined and used apparently to suit one particular occasion. Nonce words are sometimes used independently by different writers and speakers, but they are not adopted into general use. James Joyce employed many such words in Finnegans Wake (1939). In A Clockwork Orange (1962), the novelist Anthony Burgess created a large vocabulary of nonce words, a language he called nadsat. His protagonist, Alex, speaks and thinks in nadsat, which is a blend of Cockney slang and Russian. Examples of nadsat nonce words include the terms britva (razor), mounch (snack), and privodeet (to lead somewhere). Compare portmanteau word.