Protologism

Protologism is a term coined in the early 2000s by the American literary theorist Mikhail Epstein in reference to a word coined, by an individual or a small group, that has not yet been published independently of the coiner(s). The word may be proposed, may be extremely new, or may not be established outside a very limited group of people. A protologism becomes a neologism as soon as it appears in published press, on a website, or in a book, independently of the coiner. A word whose developmental stage is between that of a protologism (freshly coined) and a neologism (a new word) is a "prelogism".
Overview.
The word "protologism" describes one stage in the development of neologisms, at which a word is proposed, extremely new, or not established outside a very limited group of people. A protologism is coined to fill a gap in the language, with the hope of its becoming an accepted word. When it was created, the term "protologism" was autological; it was an example of the thing it describes. Epstein coined the term by combining the Greek words ' and ':
According to Epstein, every word in use started out as a protologism, subsequently became a neologism, and then gradually grew to be part of the language. There is no fixed rule determining when a protologism becomes a stable neologism. According to Kerry Maxwell, author of "Brave New Words":