nihilartikel

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,[1] books,[2] etc., which are now used again as references for these sites, leading to a form of citogenesis.

• IPA^(key): /ˈnaɪ.(h)ɪlˌɑɹt.ɪkl̩/
• (copying Latin and German) IPA^(key): /ˈniː.hiːl.ɑːɹtˌiː.kəl/
• Hyphenation: ni‧hil‧art‧i‧kel

nihilartikel (plural nihilartikels)

1. 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.

   Synonym: Mountweazel

   • 2005 May 1, Eve Maler, “The Language Log”, Pushing String, at www.xmlgrrl.com

     The post never does find the word it’s looking for, but it eventually alights on a discussion of the Nihilartikel, a fake dictionary or encyclopedia entry created for playful or copyright-trap reasons.

   • 2005 December 17, Marc Goodman, “Interesting slam on Wikipedia”, in alt.religion.kibology‎ (Usenet), message-ID <aYqdnU-48IgKJznenZ2dnUVZ_sydnZ2d@newedgenetworks.com>:

     A nihilartikel was once inserted into Wikipedia that lasted for five months.

   • [2005 December 18, Tom Anderson, “Putney Green”, in uk.transport.london (Usenet):

     There are also fake entries in dictionaries and encyclopedias, known as nihilartikels, which serve the same purpose.]

• copyright trap

• trap street

• fictitious entry on Wikipedia.Wikipedia