nihilartikel

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nihilartikel

/ˈnaɪ.(h)ɪlˌɑɹt.ɪkl̩/
/ˈniː.hiːl.ɑːɹtˌiː.kəl/

Where it comes from

Borrowed from German Nihilartikel, apparently coined as a hoax in the German-language Wikipedia in 2003 and later picked up by the English Wikipedia, from where it spread to blogs, books, etc., which are now used again as references for these sites, leading to a form of citogenesis.

noun nihilartikels

A deliberately fictitious entry in an encyclopedia or academic work, generally identifiable as false, usually included to brand the intellectual property so copies can be identified. 2005 May 1, Eve Maler, “The Language Log”, Pushing String, at www.xmlgrrl.com https://web.archive.org/web/20061111100505/http://www.xmlgrrl.com/blog/archives/2005/05/01/the-language-log/ The post never does find the word it’s looking for, but it eventually alights on a discussion of the Nihilartikel
Similar: Mountweazel

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Cite this

MLA

"nihilartikel." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/nihilartikel. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

nihilartikel. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/nihilartikel

Chicago

"nihilartikel." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/nihilartikel.

BibTeX

@misc{nihilartikel_2026,
  title = {nihilartikel},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/nihilartikel},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}