Showing 1-10 of 94 entries
“Quarterly updates”
Social change and linguistic change: the language of Covid-19
It is a rare experience for lexicographers to observe an exponential rise in usage of a single word in a very short period of time, and for that word to…
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A bear of many brains: the revision of bear, n.1
In the March 2020 update to the OED, our entry for bear, n.1 found itself in the paws of our revision editors. The process of taking the ‘bear’ that appeared…
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Have yourself a merry little update: the March 2020 OED release notes
Christmas has come particularly early this year, as the latest OED update includes a revision of Christmas and its near neighbours. Some of the changes are due to expressions that…
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Cartoon bears and killer clowns: new entries in the OED March 2020 update
Here at the coalface of lexicography, we OED editors often have to grapple with new words that we have no prior knowledge of whatsoever, sometimes in highly specialized fields such…
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Release notes: West African English pronunciations
The OED‘s latest update sees the addition of several Nigerian English words, including bukateria, danfo, and tokunbo . This was the perfect opportunity for OED’s pronunciation team to add a West…
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Release notes: Nigerian English
My English-speaking is rooted in a Nigerian experience and not in a British or American or Australian one. I have taken ownership of English. This is how acclaimed Nigerian writer…
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It’s time to kvell about some awesomesauce new words: the OED January 2020 update
The January 2020 update to the Oxford English Dictionary is now online, and OED lexicographers having rubbed their minds together are ready to share the latest contributions to their work…
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These ARE the words you are looking for: the OED October 2019 update
From ‘fake news’ to ‘Jedi mind trick’, let us ‘loop you in’ with the latest OED update:
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No tears of joy (yet): emoji make their OED debut
This month’s update marked a small but colourful milestone in Oxford lexicographers’ use of social media as a source for illustrative quotations.
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Gym bunnies and junkyard dogs: new words in the June 2019 update
Genuinely ‘new’ words, unique character strings created by a particular individual for a specific purpose, don’t usually pass into common usage, or get into dictionaries. Those that do make it…
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