The word atuarneq (reading) had no Greenlandic word before Greenlanders could read. After Hans Egede and other missionaries came to Greenland and started to teach Greenlanders to read, did they make a word for reading, atuarneq.
New words for things unseen in Greenland before they are imported by merchants and missionaries are suaasat (rice), umiarsuaq (ship), qerititsivik (freezer), amusartoq (drawer), ujalussiaq (thread), qamutilik (cannon) etc.
It is normal to make new words for new things. And due to the Greenlandic derivational system, it is quite easy to make new words.
· To name thing we think are like already known things, we put the derivation {–usaq/-usat} on the already known thing, to make the new word; suaasat, qajuusat, kumaasat, inuusaq (rice, flour, cumin, doll) etc.
· For things bigger than the already known, the derivation {–suaq} is added to the word of the already known thing; umiarsuaq, tuttorsuaq, quersuaq (ship, deer, warehouse) etc.
· To describe places or time you put the derivation {–fik/-vik} to the word and make a new word; qerititsivik, atuarfik, siniffik, sinittarfik (freezer, school, bed, bedroom) etc.
· For making verbs to nouns the derivation {-toq/-soq} is used to make new words; amusartoq, igasoq, oqaluttartoq (drawer, cook, gramophone) etc.
· To make new words for things intended for something the derivation {–ssiaq} could be used (derivations {-ssaq & -liaq} could also be used); ujalussiaq, puussiaq, qarmasissiaq, atuagassiaq (thread, bag, brick, magazine) etc.
· For making a new word saying there is an owner, or it is provided with something, the derivation {–lik} is used; atorfilik, noqartilik, tingerlaataannalik (employee, grand piano, sailing ship) etc.
Some of the new Greenlandic words are qarasaasiaq, oqarasuaat, nittartagaq (computer, phone, website) etc.