Showing 1-10 of 50 entries
“History of English”
OED100: Revising Function Words in the OED
Function words are the words that enable language to operate, rather like the gears in a machine. Typically they don’t have a referential meaning of their own but connect together…
Find out more
Flattery and incongruous mixtures in the Historical Thesaurus of the OED
One of the words added to the OED this update is plámás, used in Irish English to mean ‘flattery; insincere or exaggerated praise, esp. when used to cajole or persuade’…
Find out more
OED March revision update: just what the doctor ordered
This quarter’s OED update includes a revised entry for doctor. The word today immediately brings to mind white coats and stethoscopes, but the early history of the word had more…
Find out more
Searching the OED
You may have spotted our how to search the OED guide recently. To supplement this, we’d like to highlight some of the interesting things you can find in the OED…
Find out more
From the humble chip to the finest flour: an update on etymology
Among the words in this latest quarterly release there are quite a few etymologies of common words with long histories in English. Among those that date back to the earliest…
Find out more
Unmentionables, trousers coughs, and words for the riotously drunk: the December 2021 update to the HTOED
Pants, kecks, rammies, trews, unmentionables… These are just a few of the words in the Historical Thesaurus of the OED (HTOED) category trousers, which usefully complements the newly revised OED…
Find out more
Malignant monsters and the limbo in the HTOED
Please note that a subscription to the OED is required to access the Historical Thesaurus . Learn about subscription options, or, if your library or institution offers access to the…
Find out more
Put in a good word: using the Historical Thesaurus of the OED
The Historical Thesaurus of the OED (HTOED) is a fascinating resource for exploring the ways that concepts have been expressed in different periods, and for discovering which synonyms were available…
Find out more
Early Women of the OED: 690-1100CE
I recently became interested in researching some of the earliest women cited or mentioned in the OED. Only a few individuals, such as members of royal families or famous scholars…
Find out more
The Oxford English Dictionary: focus areas and goals for 2021
In the runup to the 2028 centenary of the completion of OED’s First Edition, the OED team is undertaking a series of projects to update the content more dynamically than…
Find out more
