NEW in sign language

ASL sign for NEW

Learn a new word in American Sign Language for ya, beginners. Nothing new for ya, signers.

ASL Signs for NEW

There are two common forms of movement for NEW in ASL, depending on the contexts and structure. They may be interchangeable sometimes, but not in other contexts.

Definition: Having recently come into existence; not existing before; made, introduced, or discovered recently or now for the first time.

Pronunciation/articulation: Dominant loosely bent hand (handshape) with the palm-up (orientation) slides once (movement) across the up-sided palm of the non-dominant hand (location).

Context or usage examples (remember to translate into ASL): "her new friend", "She couldn't afford a new car, so she bought a used one", "Nothing is new! It's always like that" (ASL glossed as POSS++ TEND-ma ALWAYS, NOTHING(var) NEW).

Pronunciation/articulation: Dominant loosely bent B-thumb handshape with the palm upward slides across the non-dominant (passive) upward palm twice (shorter movement).

Deaf signers may inflect the base "new" for a gradient of synonyms such as BRAND-NEW, etc.

Usage examples: "new to the job".

Kid signing "new"

The time-lapse video shows how the bilingual ASL-speaking toddler acquired the word "new".

In the video, the toddler pointed to the toothpaste and commented "new" when she noticed a new toothpaste. She uttered the ASL word "new" to ask for new apps on her tablet or just to comment that she had new apps.

Related sign words

Dueling ultra-rich kids are the fun to watch because they are always trying to outshine the other. One will buy a BRAND NEW tech toy only to be outdone by the other who buys a NEWER model. Next thing you know it's a new trend. One of the MODERN ones that's remote controlled. Not to be outdone the other rich kiddo would get whatever the LATEST novelty in gadget was. Maybe a NEW-FANGLED drone that spies on the out-competed kid. That of course would be outdone by a FUTURISTIC system of satellite bots, which would then be replaced by good OLD-FASHIONED binoculars after these morons ruin their friendship trying to one up one another. Still amusing to watch!

More vocabulary: NOVEL, FRESH, ORIGINAL, STATE-OF-THE-ART, AVANT-GARDE, RECENT.

Opposite: OLD.

First 100 words.

  1. again
  2. also
  3. ask
  4. bad
  5. boy
  6. but
  7. can
  8. come
  9. deaf
  10. different
  11. drink
  12. drive
  13. eat
  14. email
  15. excuse
  16. family
  17. feel
  18. few
  19. find
  20. fine
  21. fingerspell
  22. finish
  23. food
  24. for
  25. forget
  26. friend
  27. get
  28. girl
  29. give
  30. go
  31. good
  32. have, has, had
  33. he
  34. hearing
  35. hello
  36. help
  37. home
  38. how
  39. Internet
  40. know
  41. later
  42. like (feeling)
  43. little
  44. live
  45. man
  46. many
  47. me
  48. meet
  49. more
  50. my
  51. name
  52. need
  53. new
  54. no
  55. not
  56. now
  57. ok, okay
  58. old
  59. other
  60. please
  61. remember
  62. same
  63. say
  64. school
  65. see
  66. she
  67. should
  68. sign, signed word
  69. slow
  70. some
  71. sorry
  72. store
  73. take
  74. tell
  75. text, sms
  76. thank, thank you
  77. their
  78. they
  79. think
  80. time
  81. tired
  82. try
  83. understand
  84. use
  85. wait
  86. want
  87. what
  88. when
  89. where
  90. which
  91. who
  92. why
  93. will
  94. with
  95. woman
  96. work
  97. write
  98. yes
  99. you
  100. your

As you feel more comfortable with the first few hundreds of ASL signs, progress further with your vocabulary and learn signing more.