Keyword: «neology»

Rapid development of human society has led to a great number of new realities appearance. Thus, it is necessary to study neologisms, as these linguistic units are quickly transferred from passive to active vocabulary. Nowadays English endures neological boom. New words are appearing both in English and American languages.

This paper considers new lexical units – neologisms, which are one of the ways to reflect the development of the language and society as a whole. When learning any language, it is very important to know neology. The article contains a comparative analysis of neologisms in Russian and German, during which the main models and reasons for the formation of neologisms, as well as their distinguishing features, are considered.

Events related to the covid-19 virus pandemic in the world (2020 – present) served as a catalyst for the emergence of a large number of neologisms. Based on the material of the French-speaking press, the author identifies and analyzes the neologisms that appeared during this period of time. Based on the analysis, the author concludes that these neologisms were formed mainly by semantic mechanisms, as well as word formation mechanisms and relate to the field of medicine and society. Some of the neologisms are of an affective nature and are based on wordplay and homophony. Their rapid spread is facilitated by the Internet, in particular, social networks and blogs.