Updates to the OED

December 2022

Over 800 fully revised and updated entries, and over 700 new words, phrases, and senses have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary in our latest update, including final girl, tallywacker, and pinkie promise.

Learn more about the words added to the OED this quarter in our new words notes by OED Senior Editor, Jonathan Dent.

OED Senior Editor, Matthew Bladen, explores in this blog post how Charlie Brown made it into the OED and popularised the word, blockhead.

Enjoyed our new football entries in our last update? Then have a read of OED Executive Editor, Andrew Ball’s football related update in the Historical Thesaurus of the OED.

OED Senior Consultant Phonetics Editor, Matthew Moreland, explores Indian English and Naturalization in this blog post.

Note on etymology

We are delighted to have written or revised a highly varied collection of etymologies this quarter, from which it is a pleasure to pick out a few highlights here.

Particularly prominent are a number of words Old English inherited from its Germanic parent, including buy, broad, build, for, from, half, and staff. For all of these the etymologies have been revised in detail, as well as the documentation of historical spelling variation (often very complex, especially for verbs such as buy or build).

There are also plenty of borrowings from Anglo-Norman and continental French, such as barber, block (which French had borrowed from Dutch), and disease. Borrowings from both French and Latin include course and slave, while ventilate and ventilation show borrowing directly from Latin.

A borrowing from Italian with a complex and fascinating earlier history is ghetto.

September 2022

Over 650 new words, senses, and sub-entries, have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary in our latest update, including trequartista, influencer, and side hustle.  

Learn more about the words added to the OED this quarter in our new words notes by OED New Words Executive Editor, Craig Leyland.

OED Executive Editor, Matthew Bladen, takes a look at our entry for cabinet and explains how we make explains of everything from furniture to politics in this blog post.

OED Executive Editor, Kate Wild, explores ‘excellent’ words in the Historical Thesaurus of the OED in this blog post.

The September OED release includes revised entries for SHOCK and related words. Learn about the interesting discoveries revision has unearthed in this article by OED Senior Editor, Tania Styles.

Note on etymology

We are delighted to offer another varied mix of etymologies in the OED’s latest quarterly release.

Among words that go back to the Germanic origins of English are who (and whom and whose) and top. The various words all spelt shock in modern English show a variety of origins, and are particularly difficult to tease apart: probably we have here (at least) one word that goes back to the Germanic origins of English (although there are no surviving attestations from the Old English period), one word that was borrowed from either Middle Low German or Middle High German, and one word that was borrowed into English from French (although it had been borrowed into French ultimately from a continental Germanic language).

Medieval borrowings from French in this latest release include ancient, attorney, chancellor, and grocer. These probably all entered English primarily through Anglo-Norman, the variety of French used in medieval England for several centuries after the Norman Conquest (in literature as well as for many practical purposes, especially in the Law and in the keeping of business records). Another such word, that may surprise some, is blanket; here the -k- reveals the English word’s origins specifically in Anglo-Norman or related dialects in northern France, since the form in the French of Paris was blanchet (the word comes ultimately from Old French blanc ‘white’, as does English blank).

Two separate but ultimately related borrowings from French are shown by the two entries for cornet; the one word denotes various horn-shaped items (including the musical instrument), the other a type of medieval woman’s headdress involving a pointed cone, then the part of a headdress hanging down the back of the head, hence the pennon on a lance, and hence (by a long line of developments) a military rank (the lowest grade of commissioned officer in a troop of cavalry, who carried the colours).

Although it has the appearance of a French loanword, avail was probably formed within English, by prefixation of the verb vail, which was itself borrowed from (Anglo-Norman) French; the entries for both verbs are updated in this release.

Another word which entered English from French is coach, which first appears in both languages in the 1500s. French borrowed the word (as coche) probably from either Italian or German, but the word comes ultimately from Hungarian, originally from the name of Kocs, a town in Hungary where vehicles were produced.

A much later French loanword is blouse, which originally denoted a garment worn by workmen.

A very interesting etymological history is shown by cabinet. There is a close relationship with French cabinet, but the precise nature of the relationship is unclear: the English word may have been formed directly from cabin, which itself shows a borrowing from two distinct French words cabane and cabine. In order to explain this complex history, we have revised the etymology of cabin as well as cabinet, and both now appear in this release.

Other words where we have revised the etymology section in this release ahead of full revision of the entry include familiar words such as cradle (a word of Germanic origin) and secretary (a borrowing from Latin), alongside words that will be less familiar to many, such as broose (a Scottish and northern English race run on the occasion of a wedding, probably so called because the winner was awarded a cup of broo or broth) or tirelarigot (a French borrowing, and one of the many words for a heavy bout of drinking).

OED Deputy Chief Editor, Philip Durkin

Note about pronunciation

As ever, the revisions and new additions in this release offered the OED pronunciation team an interesting set of challenges. We needed to decide where to place stress (groceress, pumpkin spice), settle on appropriate levels of anglicization for loans (andouillette, baasskap, cornetto curvo), and disentangle monosyllabic y’all from disyllabic youall. We also watched more videos of football commentary than any of us is accustomed to, checking usage evidence for entries such as Cruyff turn and trequartista.

This release also features the first phase of a development we are really excited about: the addition of transcriptions for Indian English pronunciations to OED. Audio to accompany these transcriptions, and further information about our Indian English work in general, will follow  in phase two, in early 2023. The model and key are linked here and here. Ever since we began the work to add pronunciations other than British and US English, (link to https://public.oed.com/blog/june-2016-update-release-notes-world-english-pronunciations/) we have regarded the inclusion of Indian English as a priority, but it has taken a while for us to develop a transcription model which can handle the complexity of this major World English. In particular, the variation between the pronunciations of English words associated with the various regions of India was a challenge. While there are some pronunciation patterns that seem to broadly apply when an existing English word is adopted or adapted by Indian English speakers, speakers drawing on words originating from their own first language are very much influenced by knowledge of that language and rarely fully anglicize. For that reason, OED’s base Indian English model fully applies only to a subset of words including countrymade, biodata, and post-graduation. The remainder is processed through what we call ELSI (‘Extensions for Languages Spoken in India’), the part of our model giving scope to reflect a more Hindi-sounding pitara, a Bengali-flavoured sat-bhai, a more Gujurati pronunciation of bindaas, a Marathi-esque desai, and an Urdu-influenced chowkidar amongst others. Our process is rooted in academic descriptions of Indian English, enhanced by phonetic profiles of other languages steering ELSI, with review and application guided by consultant Dr Divyanshi Shaktawat. The result is a model which introduces eight symbols not used in any prior OED pronunciation model, but which allow us to reflect features such as retroflex (backwards-tongue-curled) articulations commonly associated with Indian English, plus a couple of sounds (/q, ɣ/) associated with specific first language influences.

Matthew Moreland and Catherine Sangster, of the OED pronunciations team

You can see the full list of words to be added in this update here.

June 2022

Nearly 700 new words, senses, and sub-entries, have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary in our latest update, including ankle-biter, sharenting, and Mozart and Liszt.

Learn more about the words added to the OED this quarter in our new words notes by OED Senior Editor, Jonathan Dent.

OED Executive Editor, Danica Salazar discusses the latest East African English words to be added to the OED, such as biting and daladala in this article.

OED Executive Editor, Kate Wild, explains how we have reviewed our coverage of words relating to vegetarianism and veganism in the Historical Thesaurus of the OED in this blog post.

Amongst the words revised as part of this update are ignore and ignoramus. Learn about the interesting discoveries revision has unearthed in this article by OED Executive Editor, Eleanor Maier.

Note on etymology

We are very pleased to have been able to tackle a large number of substantial and varied etymologies over the past quarter, now published as part of the OED’s latest quarterly release.

Among words that go back to the Germanic roots of English are dwarf, share, stand, the core grammatical word which, and the bird-name laverock and its more familiar later variant lark. The word ankle partly shows such an origin, but partly also results from borrowing from early Scandinavian (the language of the Vikings).

Borrowings from French include announce, annoy, annul, anoint, finance, ignore, interview, and sauce. Some input from both French and Latin is shown by annual and annunciation. The verb turn shows an interesting merger of an early borrowing from Latin in the Old English period with a later borrowing from French, with all of the inputs ultimately reflecting the same Latin base.

There are also loanwords from many points around the globe, such as soy, Brahmin, or anjeer.

There are numerous borrowings from languages of Africa, particularly East Africa, including newly revised words such as benga, boma, duka, harambee, hlonipha, and uhuru, and newly added ones such as busaa, buveera, changaa, gombolola, or jembe. Among them there are some items that have elements ultimately of English origin (and hence are being reborrowed back into English) such as daladala and chips mayai.

Among more complicated etymologies, where some interesting questions remain to be answered, are bauble and bully.

In addition to all of these words, which have been either fully revised or newly added to the dictionary this quarter, we have continued with work adding or revising etymology sections in dictionary entries that are otherwise yet to be fully revised. Some highlights here include feud (a common word with a very complex formal history), consort n.² (which shows interesting early overlap in meaning with concert), dignity, style, syncope, and helpmeet (which has an important part in explaining the history of helpmate), as well as less familiar words such as chiaus (which comes ultimately from Turkish), the legal term arraign ‘appeal to’ (arraign v.²), ewdendrift (one of the many words for types of snow in Scots), and fenks the fibrous parts of the blubber of a whale (probably borrowed from Dutch).

OED Deputy Chief Editor, Philip Durkin

Note about pronunciation

Where should the stresses fall in cyanobacterium, or in Standartenführer? Is the /w/ part of the dw cluster in the word dwarf really optional in US English? If the footwear is written as Dr. Martens, do people ever still use the “Doc.” pronunciation? (Yes, to both.) If finance has three variant pronunciations with different stress and vowel quality in British English, are we right to apply that to all related words? How is the x in the Zapotec loan muxe to be pronounced? (The pronunciation of x is a favourite topic of ours.) These and other puzzles kept the OED pronunciation team busy during our work on the revisions and new entries in this release.

On the World English side of things, we took part in OED’s recent symposium with a session on how we represent World English pronunciations; the recording of the session is here. OED continues to supplement our entries from World Englishes with pronunciations reflective of their regions of origin or use, and this time is the turn of our East African English words. Kenyan, Ugandan, and Tanzanian pronunciations are reflected by a new pronunciation model devised with the consultancy of professor emeritus Josef Schmied of the Chemnitz University of Technology. An in-person recording session with our East African English speaker was a priority as we returned from COVID restrictions, and with this update we are pleased to be providing audio (as always, just click the blue play icon next to the transcription). Our model and pronunciations reflect the distinctive sound of East African English, characterized by features including a relatively small set of vowel contrasts, the patterning of syllabic and vocalized consonants, trilled or flapped /r/, and a tendency towards syllable-timed rhythm that nonetheless maintains a clear primary stress. Finally, we are glad to report that the audio files for the Irish English pronunciations, made in our own recording studio this spring, are now where they should be, accompanying the transcriptions which were added in the previous update.

Matthew Moreland and Catherine Sangster, of the OED pronunciations team

You can see the full list of words to be added in this update here.

March 2022

Nearly 700 new words, senses, and phrases have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary in this special update, including dinosaur hunter, vaccine passport, and what’s up, doc?

Learn more about the words added to the OED this quarter in our new words notes by OED Senior Editor, Jonathan Dent.

OED Executive Editor, Danica Salazar discusses the latest Irish English words to be added to the OED, from bockety to banatee in this article.

OED Executive Editor, Kate Wild, investigates the link between flattery and blancmange in this blog post on updates to the Historical Thesaurus of the OED.

Amongst the words revised as part of this update is doctor. Learn about what has been uncovered during the revision of this entry in this article by OED Senior Editor, Tania Styles.

Note about etymology

The etymological origins of words in the current release are typically varied.
Words going back to the earliest stages of English include draw, sib (hence sibling), that, and (continuing our work revising selected etymologies in advance of other revision) eleven.
There are borrowings from French such as annexe, bisque, or foreign; borrowings from Latin, such as annals, annihilate, Celt, critic,  dinosaur (these three all ultimately from Greek), inoculate, intoxicate, or the major prefix anti-; and borrowings showing input from both French and Latin, such as colonial, distance, doctor, and (in a slightly complicated way) vaccine.

While critic is a borrowing from Latin, it is interesting that the related critical, criticism, and criticize all appear to have been formed within English.

Among words with with more varied origins are canoe (which entered English from Spanish but comes ultimately from Taino), kung fu (from Chinese), kitsch (from German), and drawl (from either Dutch or Middle Low German). While Tory is a borrowing from Irish, the etymological complexities of Whig and whiggamore are best seen by visiting the dictionary entries. Some mystery continues to surround tweak.

OED Deputy Chief Editor, Philip Durkin

Note about pronunciations

From a chara to WYSIWYG, the revisions and new entries in this release have presented the usual challenges to the OED pronunciation team. How is this said, does everyone say it the same way or are there important variants, has its pronunciation changed over time, do British and US English differ? The words in the Celt- range were especially interesting because they can be pronounced with an initial /k/ or /s/, but not in all cases or all senses. For the Irish English revisions and additions, we made minor updates to our transcription model and provided each with an Irish English pronunciation alongside the British and US. Regrettably, we were unable to create audio to accompany these transcriptions in time for this release (we make recordings in person in Oxford and this is still being affected by pandemic constraints), but it will be in place for the next release in June.

Catherine Sangster, OED Executive Editor

You can see the full list of words to be added in this update here.

The OED publishes four updates a year. The next update will be added to the dictionary in June 2022.

December 2021

More than 700 new entries and senses have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary in this special update, including comfort eating, lateral flow, and hybrid.

Learn more about the words added to the OED this quarter in our new words notes by OED Senior Editor, Jonathan Dent.

OED Executive Editor, Kate Wild, also explores the category for ‘trousers’ in the Historical Thesaurus of the OED in this blog post.

Among the words in this latest quarterly release there are quite a few etymologies of common words with long histories in English. Learn more in a note on etymology from OED Chief Etymologist, Philip Durkin.

Note about pronunciations

We make recordings in our own studio to create the sound files which accompany each OED pronunciation transcription. Since last year, because of Covid restrictions, we haven’t been able to do this, and gaps have emerged in our World English audio coverage. Therefore, one of the highlights of the last quarter was at last being able to get back into the studio and start addressing this backlog, starting with Australian English.

The transcription work kept us busy, too. The large number of Buddhism words presenting the biggest challenge, as we need to balance original language phonology and consultant advice with observed anglicizations, many of which differ depending on usage, and between British and U.S. English. Gen Z also shows a transatlantic pronunciation difference. Is Xennial always “zen-“ or does anyone say “eks-en-“? Where does the stress fall in trouserettes? Is that c going to be “k” (coquetoon), “ch” (citta), or “s” (cippus)? How many variant pronunciations of trans- should we offer in transfeminine and transmasculine?  What’s the vowel quality in the third syllable of corporativism? We also responded to rapid change and heated debate around the pronunciation of omicron with this blog post.

Catherine Sangster, Executive Editor, OED Management

You can see the full list of words to be added in this update here.

October 2021

Almost 100 revised and new entries and senses have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary in this special update, including climate crisis, extreme weather, and mass extinction.

Read our new words notes to discover what our editors have recorded through their language monitoring—spikes in usage of certain environmental terms, differences in how certain terms are now used, the emergence of more extreme language when talking about climate change, and more.

Learn what our editors have uncovered through their investigations into historical sources, from significant antedatings to windmill boats, in this blog post by OED Executive Editor, Rosamund Ions.

You can also explore new classroom materials. Our glossary posters show language related to the causes and impact of—and solutions to—climate change, while our lesson plans explore greenwashing language and the development of climate change terms.

In the months preceding this update, our editors have also contributed to The Climate Connection, a ten-part podcast series from the British Council which explores the relationship between the climate crisis and language education. Listen to the podcast or read the accompanying blog posts.

You can see the full list of words to be added in this update here.

September 2021

Almost 1,000 fully revised entries and over 800 new entries and senses have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary in our latest update, including anti-vaxxer, Dutch baby, and bants

Learn more about the words added to the OED this quarter in our new words notes by OED Senior Editor, Jonathan Dent.

As we approach the spookiest season of the year, OED Senior Editor Matthew Bladen looks into the early origins of the word witch in our revision notes, exploring its early origins as well as the terms that arose surrounding the Pendle and Salem witch trials.

With the revision of the entries ghost, hag, witch, and zombie in the OED this quarter, now is a good time to creep into the supernatural category in Historical Thesaurus of the OED, as OED Executive Editor Kate Wild explains in this blog post. The Historical Thesaurus of the OED has been updated to include new categories, including categories for ‘elder brother’ and ‘elder sister’, thanks in part to some new additions to the OED, such as oppa, a word of Korean origin.

This update includes many other words of Korean origin. Read the stories behind skinship, PC bang, and hallyu, in our release notes by OED World English Editor, Danica Salazar.

This update also sees the inclusion of many words from Caribbean English, including the colourful term, to eat parrot head. Find out more in this blog post.

Note about etymology

Etymological highlights among entries revised this quarter include such fundamental building blocks of the vocabulary as the adverb and preposition in and the modal verb will, alongside other words inherited from Old English such as drive, foul, ghost, and witch, semantically or formally complex loanwords including card, sue, beast, and caravan, and some real etymological puzzles such as haggis. We have also revised the etymologies of a number of words borrowed from Korean, including kimchi, gisaeng, and taekwondo, alongside numerous new additions including banchan, bulgogi, chimaek, galbi, hanbok, japchae, kimbap, and mukbang. Among more than 450 entries given a formal etymology for the first time are words as varied as burneux (a type of sauce eaten in the Middle Ages), grimgribber (meaning legal jargon), grindle (an East Anglian term for a ditch or drain), groundswell, groundhog, the nautical terms burton and Davy Jones, Shakespeare’s gravel-blind, and the familiar budgie. Finally, we were delighted to be able to include in our work updating etymologies and variant spellings this quarter two common words with very long histories in English, cat and drink.

Philip Durkin, Chief Etymologist, OED Management

Note about pronunciations

Pronunciations this quarter presented a range of interesting challenges to the team. We dug into the stress placement in free solo, the vowel quality in zami, the voicing of the s in tifoso, the treatment of Guillelmite, and words in Caribbean English of South Asian origin such as orhni and phukni. We considered the range of variant pronunciations possible for sets of words such as the whoop range and the bestial range – in each case, there are 4 British and 4 US pronunciation variants reflecting differences in both vowel and consonant sounds – and how much these variants ought to extend into all the related entries. Variants also featured in the range of words starting with hagio– (“haggy”, “hay-ji” or something else?) and anti– (especially in US English, for which OED offers three variant pronunciations of the prefix). I am especially fond of working on Latin phrases and determining whether and how we should anglicize them, and there were plenty of these (in statu nascendi, in partibus infidelium) to puzzle over. For the significant number of additions and revisions which English borrows from Korean, we were greatly assisted in researching the British and American pronunciations by our consultant Jo Kim.

Catherine Sangster, Executive Editor, OED Management

You can see the full list of words to be added in this update here.

June 2021

1,000 fully revised entries and nearly 700 new words and senses have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary in our latest update, including deadname, staycation and social distance.

Learn more about the words added to the OED this quarter in our new words notes by OED Revision Editor, Jonathan Dent.

Moreover, learn more about the revision of fast and slow in this blog post by OED Revision Editor, Eleanor Maier.

Update on pronunciation: There was plenty in this release’s revisions and new additions for the pronunciation team to get their teeth into. What is the best way to anglicize the sounds in loans like amandla, amigurumi, or amobr (which English borrows from Xhosa/Zulu, Japanese, and Welsh)? How about the length and quality of the vowels in amrita (originally Sanskrit)? How reduced is the middle syllable in amirite? Does the secondary stress in words with the anarch- prefix (anarcho-punk, anarcha-feminism) tend to fall on the an- or the -arch- syllable, and is this this same on both sides of the Atlantic? Do people pronounce the u in the humorous suffix -amundo (as in exactamundo) like the vowel in “cup”, or the vowel in “book”, or should we give both? And that was just the As…

Update on etymology: Some etymological highlights among the entries revised in this release include such major words as common, carry, fast, feast, card, and bias (the last of which shows a particularly interesting semantic history, spanning French and English). New additions range from Generation Z, the drug name remdesivir, or the combining form –palooza, to the Latin decumanus or the South American Spanish borrowing macajuel. We have also continued our project adding etymologies to existing entries that previously lacked an etymology section. Over 450 of these are included in this release, including items as varied as infant-school, inquorate, inamoretta, Coleridge’s coinage inquaintance, Scottish insameikle, the Cornish fish name illeck, or Batman’s Gotham. Continuing our work updating the etymologies and variant spellings for numerals, this release sees updates of fifty, fifth, and fifteen, among others.

You can see the full list of words to be added in this update here.

March 2021

More than 1400 new words, sub-entries, and revisions have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary in our latest update, including gender pay gap, me-too, essential worker, and ally.

Learn more about the words added to the OED this quarter in our new words notes by OED Revision Editor, Jonathan Dent.

Read the long tale of shirttail, peppered as it is with prairies and small boys, in this blog post by OED Executive Editor, Graeme Diamond.

With the addition of womxn to the OED this quarter, find out how our editors document the pronunciation of words containing an X in this article by Head of Pronunciations, Catherine Sangster.

Learn all about micing and acegirls as Dr. Rosemary Hall, Onion and OED Bermudian English consultant, shares the details of our new batch of Bermudian English words in this blog post.

You can see the full list of words to be added in this update here.

December 2020

More than 500 new words, sub-entries, and revisions have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary in our latest update, including clockwork orange, follically challenged, and adulting.

Learn more about the words added to the OED this quarter in our (rather zhuzhy) new words notes by OED Revision Editor, Jonathan Dent.

And it’s not just definitions that require updating—in this article, Deputy Chief Editor Philip Durkin highlights some notable OED entries with newly revised etymologies and variant forms, from those with clear origins such as bombshell, to those which threw up a few surprises, such as dragonfly.

As you hang your candy canes on your Christmas tree, take a moment to learn all about the revision of candy, and the word’s connection to love stories, social events, and even bailiffs, in this blog post by OED Junior Editor, Kirsty Dunbar.

You can see the full list of words to be added in this update here.

September 2020

More than 650 new words, senses, and sub-entries have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary in our latest update, including code red, craftivist, and Cookie Monster.

Learn more about the words added to the OED this quarter in our release notes by OED Revision Editor, Jonathan Dent.

This month’s update sees the publication of a number of new words from Canada. World English Editor, Danica Salazar, discusses schlockey and bush parties, buckle, and the May two-four in her notes on the Ontario Dialects Project here.

And if you have ever been curious about where the word codswallop came from, read about an investigation into its origins in this article by OED Revision Editor, Matthew Bladen.

You can see the full list of words to be added in this update here.

July 2020

Note from the OED Team

This is the second OED update to cover linguistic developments relating to the Covid-19 pandemic. Once again, this falls outside of our usual quarterly publication cycle, and once again these new and updated entries are being made available free to all at oed.com. As well as many new and newly familiar terms, we have also revised a number of relevant terms which were already in the OED but have assumed added meaning or significance in 2020. As a historical dictionary the OED has an obligation to tell the whole story of a word, but our constant monitoring of language also allows us to see (and tell) those stories as they emerge and change.

In preparing these entries, there is sometimes a balancing act in showing the linguistic impact of the last 6 months clearly and usefully, but also proportionately as part of the history of a word used over many decades or centuries. In some cases, we have chosen to update specific relevant senses rather than the whole entry.

The impact of Covid-19 on our lives and our language is an ongoing story. As we learn more about the nature of the virus and the social impact of the pandemic, the associated vocabulary changes, and the terms themselves change in meaning and usage. One advantage of publishing online is that we can update in response to such changes, so we’ve taken this opportunity to make a few updates to some of the entries we published in April. Covid-19 itself is a case in point: in April, OED followed medical literature then in defining it as a respiratory disease: it’s now clear it’s something more, and we’ve updated our definition accordingly. Our monitoring of large-scale text corpora also continues to identify words exhibiting a marked increase in usage, and a number of those appear in this update.

Because of the extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic, and the unusual pace of linguistic change, we have accelerated the process of researching, writing, and publishing these entries; but we’ve done that without compromising OED’s usual editorial rigour, diligence, and impartiality. Like everyone else, lexicographers are adapting to changed circumstances, making the best of new constraints and difficulties. Working from home has benefits and disadvantages. Online research resources are largely unaffected, but library closures have left us temporarily unable to pursue or complete occasional strands of research or verification. However, in a period when so many of us have felt both the lack and the value of definitive information, OED’s commitment to publishing new research remains constant.

Read our release notes from Trish Stewart, OED Revision Editor: Science here.

Learn how the OED has been tracking the development of the language around Covid-19 here.

You can see the full list of words added in this update here.

The OED publishes four updates a year. The next update will be added to the dictionary in September 2020.

June 2020

More than 400 new words, senses, and sub-entries have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary in our latest update, including banana bread, LOL, plant-based, and arr.

Read about the revision of spirit, n., “the most awkward, frustrating, and downright difficult entry I’ve ever worked on” in this article by OED Revision Editor, Matthew Bladen.

Learn more about the words added to the OED this quarter, and find out how to make yourself sound much more piratical, in our release notes by OED editor Jonathan Dent.

You can see the full list of words to be added in this update here.

April 2020

Note from Fiona McPherson, Editorial Manager, Public Liaison, OED Management

This is a significant update for the OED, and something of a departure, coming as it does outside our usual quarterly publication cycle. But these are extraordinary times, and OED lexicographers are in a unique position to track the development of the language we are using and to present the histories of these words.

Any new and widespread phenomenon always brings with it the development of new language to describe it. This particular crisis has brought a mixture of new coinages and the adaptation of terms that already existed to talk about the pandemic and the impact on the world. We’ve included some of the more widely-used terms in this update, informed and backed up by our analysis of corpora, including our own corpus of contemporary English, which currently contains over 8 billion words of data and is updated and expanded every month.

COVID-19 is, perhaps surprisingly, the only actual neologism. Coronavirus was first described in 1968 and was first included in the OED in 2008. The others are a mixture of words which had wider meaning and are now being used more specifically to refer to this pandemic, but what is clear, and what our analysis shows, is that in the first quarter of 2020, the use of all of these terms has seen a huge increase, and these words are all now entirely familiar and commonplace even if their histories are longer.

Read our release notes about this update by Executive Editor Bernadette Paton here.

You can see the full list of words to be added in this update here.

March 2020

More than 550 new words, senses, and sub-entries have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary in our latest update, including coulrophobia, there’s one born every minute, and man hug.

This update seems to have a rather furry focus. Learn about beard-stroking, chin-stroking, puggles, and bears in our new word notes by OED New Words Editor, Craig Leyland.

Christmas has come early for those who love words just a little more than your average bear–learn all about the batch of Christmas words that have been worked on this quarter in our release notes by Matthew Bladen.

You can see the full list of words to be added in this update here.

January 2020

More than 550 new words, senses, and sub-entries have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary in our latest update, including mentionitis, awesomesauce, safe space, and shticky.

If you are running around like a chicken with its head cut off, take a moment to learn about the most Scottish word of all time, a new sense of UFO (which might please the knitting community), and why you might actually enjoy a dose of Jewish penicillin in our new words notes by Jonathan Dent, OED Senior Assistant Editor.

Learn how speakers of Nigerian English might use the words Mama put and K-leg, in this article by Danica Salazar, World English Editor for the OED, and find out more about our West African pronunciations in this explanatory note by our pronunciations team.

You can see the full list of words to be added in this update here.

October 2019

More than 650 new words, senses, and subentries have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary in our latest update, including fake news, xoxo, and Jedi mind trick.

This quarter sees the addition of a number of words used in political circles recently, from former Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year omnishambles to the simples used by Theresa May in the House of Commons. A clutch of Star Wars terms have also made their dictionary debut, and we have dipped into the world of food and drink with angels’ share and the rather Marmite-sounding amber pudding. You can read about some of the other new entries in this article by Jonathan Dent, OED Senior Assistant Editor.

You can see the full list of words to be added in this update here.

June 2019

More than 1,400 new words, senses, and subentries have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary in our latest update, including bae, yeesh, and hasbian.

You can read about some of the other new entries in this article by Bernadette Paton, OED Associate Editor.

This update also sees the addition of many new words, senses, and sub-entries relating to the term bastard, such as bastardly, bastard bearing, and bastardize. OED Senior Editor, Matthew Bladen explores when bastard originally entered the English language, along with the multitude of senses associated with the word, and the transformative journey it has taken in the OED over the last 150 years in his piece. Read the full article here.

You can see the full list of words to be added in this update here.

March 2019

More than 650 new words, senses, and subentries have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary in our latest update, including puggle, Latin@, and peoplekind.

You can read about some of the other new entries in this article by Jonathan Dent, OED Senior Assistant Editor.

In our release notes, Jonathan Dent also discusses some of the new additions to come from our recent public appeals. Read this article to find out more about words such as kitbasher and jibbons being added to the OED as a result of our #hobbywords and #wordswhereyouare appeals.

This update also sees the addition of many Scottish words and phrases, such as fantoosh, bidie-in, bosie, and coorie. Find out more about this here.

This article by Senior Assistant Editor, Jeff Sherwood, explores the semantic history of caucus as part of the update.

You can see the full list of words to be added in this update here.

January 2018

More than 1,100 new words, senses, and subentries have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary in our latest update, including northern flicker, hazzled, and electric catfish.

This quarter sees the inclusion of long-established terms such as me time, more recent coinages including hangry and mansplaining, and words which have seen a shift in sense, such as snowflake. You can read more about the new and revised words and meanings in this article by Katherine Connor Martin, Head of US Dictionaries.

In our release notes this January, Edmund Weiner, Deputy Chief Editor of the OED, investigates the mysterious use of ‘sun scalds’ in Rudyard Kipling’s novel, Captains Courageous, here, and OED Associate Editor, Peter Gilliver, explores how sensationalist writing came to be known as ‘yellow journalism’ in this article.

Senior Editor, Matthew Bladen, delves into Greek mythology, taking on Titan in this article, which also reveals the amazing history of titch.

Whilst titch itself is not a new addition, nine months on from our Mumsnet appeal, the OED welcomes terms related to pregnancy and parenting to its pages. Read about Senior Editor of the OED, Fi Mooring’s, exploration of words such as baby-led weaning, diaper cake, and the alarmingly evocative poonami here.

See the words that have been added in this update.

March 2018

More than 700 new words, senses, and subentries have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary in our latest update, including cultural appropriation, trans*, and bubble water.

You can read about other new and revised meanings in this article by Katherine Connor Martin, Head of US Dictionaries.

In our release notes, Jonathan Dent, Senior Assistant Editor of the OED, investigates the formal language of sexuality and gender identity, exploring terms such as agender and intersexual here.

This update also sees the addition of more than a hundred Welsh English pronunciations for words borrowed from Welsh into English, such as cwtch, cariad, pennill, and pryddest. Find out more about this here.

June 2018

More than 900 new words, senses, and subentries have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary in our latest update, including binge-watch, impostor syndrome, and silent generation. You can read about other new and revised meanings in this article by Katherine Connor Martin, Head of US Dictionaries.

In our release notes, Senior Assistant Editor, Clifford Sofield, discusses the words related to energy that have been added in this update, from energy crisis to energy vampire.

Coinciding with the 90^th anniversary of the publication of The House at Pooh Corner, several words from Winnie-the-Pooh have also been added to the OED in this update. Read more about this here.

Associate Editor, Eleanor Maier, discusses the results of last year’s Free the Word campaign, which helped to uncover a vast variety of regional terms, including antwacky and to have a monk on. Learn more about these words and find out how to contribute regional words of your own here.

This update also sees the addition of a number of Manx English words, such as jough, tholtan, and buggane. Find out more about the Manx dialect in this article by Senior Assistant Editor Kelvin Corlett, and read more about the Manx English pronunciation model that has also been added.

View the full list of words added in this update.

October 2018

More than 1,400 new words, senses, and subentries have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary in our latest update, including nothingburger, fam, and not in Kansas anymore. You can read about other new and revised meanings in this article by Katherine Connor Martin, Head of US Dictionaries.

In our release notes, Senior Editor, Craig Leyland, discusses the words related to films that have been added in this update, from Tarantinoesque to scream queen.

Senior Assistant Editor, Jonathan Dent, explains the surprises that came with revising dunghill in this update. Read more about how astonishingly complete early predecessor dictionaries were, despite no access at all to searchable databases or electronic, large samples of English, here.

This update also sees the revision of a number of words in the English language that have begun to establish multiple uses far from their original meanings over time. Editorial Content Director, Graeme Diamond, uses bonnet as a way to explore this in his article.

View the full list of words added in this update.

December 2018

More than 600 new words, senses, and subentries have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary in our latest update, including burkini, Dylanesque, and TGIF. Principal Editor, David Martin, explains some of the fun additions to be added in this update here.

In our release notes, World English Editor, Danica Salazar, discusses the words of South African origin that have been added in this update, as part of the dictionary’s continuing efforts to record the South African lexicon.

This update also welcomes taffety tarts to the OED’s word list. You can read more about the fascinating story of how this phrase came to the attention of our editors in this piece by Deputy Chief Editor, Philip Durkin.

View the full list of words added in this update.

March 2017

More than 500 new words, phrases, and senses have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary this quarter, including hate-watch, pogonophobia, sticky-outy, and things aren’t what they used to be. You can read more about the new and revised words and meanings in this article by Katherine Connor Martin, Head of US Dictionaries.

2017 marks Canada’s 150th anniversary, and our March update includes Canada and Canadian, as well as a host of people, animals, and plants native to Canada. Trish Stewart, Senior Assistant Editor of the OED, has taken a closer look at some of these additions in our release notes.

See the words that have been added in this update.

June 2017

More than 600 new words, phrases, and senses have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary this quarter, including hygge, post-truth, gin daisy, and widdly. You can read about other new and revised meanings in this article by Katherine Connor Martin, Head of US Dictionaries, and explore our timeline of veil words.

As this update also includes revisions to the word come, Denny Hilton, Senior Editor of the OED, explores the evolution of the term to come out in our release notes. You can also brush up on your serve—or your backhand or volley—in our discussion of tennis terms.

Selected Letters of Norman Mailer (2014, edited by J. Michael Lennon) has recently been read as part of the OED’s reading programme, and the letters have provided several antedatings and some interesting insights into the challenges of finding evidence for swear words in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. You can read about this here.

See the words that have been added in this update.

September 2017

More than 1,000 new words, senses, and subentries have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary in our latest update, including worstest, fungivorous, and corporation pop.

This quarter sees the inclusion of both obsolete words, such as afound, and new words such as fatberg. You can read more about the new and revised words and meanings in this article by Katherine Connor Martin, Head of US Dictionaries.

Our release notes this September take a closer look at some of the new additions: Danica Salazar, World English Editor, explores a selection of words from Indian English that have been added to the OED, and Benjamin Norris, Senior Assistant Editor, explains the political evolution of beltway.

This update also includes an exciting antedating of white lie by almost two centuries, found because of the work of our Shakespeare’s World volunteers. Find out more about the antedating, and how to volunteer, here.

See the words that have been added in this update.

March 2016

The March 2016 update to the Oxford English Dictionary sees hundreds of new words, phrases, and senses, including vlog, bro-hug, and Dad’s Army. You can read more about the new and revised words and meanings in this article by Jonathan Dent, Senior Assistant Editor of the OED.

Associate Editor Eleanor Maier has written our release notes for this quarter, which take a closer look at the exciting history of the noun luck.

This update also sees the inclusion of a number of words from Singapore English and Hong Kong English.

See the words that have been added in this update.

June 2016

The June 2016 update sees the inclusion of more than 1,000 new words and senses in the Oxford English Dictionary, along with the revision or expansion of almost 2,000 entries. Additions this June include glamp, starchitect, starter marriage, and ROFL.

You can read more about the new words and meanings added to the Dictionary in an article by Jonathan Dent, from acronyms and initialisms to foodstuffs and modern conveniences (and inconveniences). Our Chief Editor, Michael Proffitt, has written an introduction to the exciting functional changes to the dictionary.

Long knife is an expression with a rich and varied past: it’s been in the OED since the first Supplement of 1933, but a revision this June sees the full history of long knife explored, as our Deputy Chief Editor Edmund Weiner explains in his article. Turning to the functional side of the online dictionary, you can learn more about new features: word frequency in search results and links to full passages from which our example quotations are taken. You can also find out more about the addition of written and spoken pronunciations for several varieties of World English.

See the words that have been added in this update.

September 2016

This month marks the centenary of Roald Dahl’s birth and, to mark the occasion, September’s quarterly update to the OED contains a range of revised and newly drafted entries connected to Roald Dahl and his writing, including splendiferous, human bean, and Dahlesque. Jonathan Dent, Senior Assistant Editor of the OED, takes a closer look at some of these words in this article.

As ever, the September update to OED contains more than 500 new words, phrases, and senses. Additions this quarter include Westminster bubble, YOLO, and yogalates.

See the words that have been added in this update.

December 2016

Around 500 new words, phrases, and senses have entered the Oxford English Dictionary this quarter, including glam-ma, YouTuber, and upstander.

We have a selection of release notes this December, each of which takes a closer look at some of our additions. The last few years have seen the emergence of the word Brexit, and you can read more about the huge increase in the use of the word, and how we go about defining it, in this article by Craig Leyland, Senior Editor of the OED. Katherine Connor Martin, Head of US Dictionaries, explores the interesting story of how two local words, Bama and shaka, became global. Ellie Stedall, Senior Assistant Editor with the OED, also takes a look at how to make sense of sense.

This December’s update also sees the addition of a number of words from the world of surfing, and David Martin has delved into the language of the sport in this article. You can also explore the chronology and meanings of our new surfing words with our interactive timeline.

Turning to the functional side of our online dictionary, we have added further links from OED quotations to source texts in Oxford Scholarly Editions Online. Find out how to use this new feature here.

See the words that have been added in this update.

March 2015

Around 500 new words, phrases, and senses have entered the Oxford English Dictionary in this update, and additions this quarter include white stuff, XL, and lookalike. You can read more about the new and revised words and meanings in this article by Jonathan Dent, Assistant Editor of the OED.

Deputy Chief Editor Edmund Weiner has written our release notes for this quarter, which investigate the different meanings of have, look, large, and late.

See the words that have been added in this update.

June 2015

Around 500 new words, phrases, and senses have entered the Oxford English Dictionary in this quarter’s update. Additions this June include twerk, FLOTUS, yarn-bombing, and crowdfund. You can read more about the new and revised words and meanings in this article by Katherine Connor Martin, Head of US Dictionaries.

The June 2015 update covers a huge variety of words, and our release notes reflect this. Graeme Diamond, our Editorial Content Director, discusses the fascinating history of the fedora, and Senior Editor Denny Hilton explores the lengthy revision of one of the shortest words in the Dictionary, go. Assistant Editor Jonathan Dent investigates the effect of the online world on English, including interweb and retweet. This update also sees the inclusion of a wide range of words from Philippine English, such as Mabuhay and carnap. You can read more about the new Filipino additions in this article by Research Fellow Danica Salazar.

See the words that have been added in this update.

See the new Filipino words that have been added in this update.

September 2015

Hundreds of new words, phrases, and senses have entered the Oxford English Dictionary in the September 2015 update. Additions this quarter include hoverboard, telly addict, water baby, and underwater hockey. You can read more about the new and revised words and meanings in this article by Jonathan Dent, Assistant Editor of the OED.

See the words that have been added in this update.

December 2015

Around 500 new words, phrases, and senses have entered the Oxford English Dictionary this quarter, including phablet, waybread, and bank of mom and dad. You can read more about the new and revised words and meanings in this article by Jonathan Dent, Senior Assistant Editor of the OED.

This update also sees three major new features added to the OED: audio pronunciations, word frequency markings, and short etymological summaries. Chief Editor of the OED, Michael Proffitt, introduces the exciting new features here. Our release notes this December take a closer look at these additions: Catherine Sangster, Head of Pronunciations, explains the audio pronunciations added this quarter; Philip Durkin, Deputy Chief Editor, explores the etymological summaries added to entries.

See the words that have been added in this update.

March 2014

More than 900 new words, phrases, and senses enter the Oxford English Dictionary in this update. Many appear in entries fully updated for the first time since the OED’s original edition. Some words, like book, death, and honey, have now been expanded by dozens of new items.

Additions this March include bestie, bookaholic, and beat boxer. You can read more about the new and revised words and meanings in this article by Katherine Martin, Head of US Dictionaries.

Deputy Chief Editors Philip Durkin and Edmund Weiner have written our release notes which delve a little deeper into the entries that have been revised; Philip Durkin looks in particular at empathy, employ/employee/employment, and empire/emperor, whilst Edmund Weiner investigates the history of toilet and its journey from the French word toile ‘cloth’ to the WC or restroom of today.

See the words that have been added in this update.

June 2014

This quarterly update marks the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War (1914-18) and OED’s editors have revisited and revised the dictionary’s coverage of some of the language and history associated with the war to end all wars.

Chief Editor Michael Proffitt sets the update in historical context and discusses the naming of wars, while Senior Editor Kate Wild and Associate Editor Andrew Ball explore the impact and enduring historical legacy of World War I on the English language.

You can also explore our illustrated timeline highlighting 100 Words that Define the First World War.

See the full list of World War I revisions.

See the words that have been added in this update.

September 2014

More than 600 new words, phrases, and senses have entered the Oxford English Dictionary in our latest update, which sees the revision of several everyday words, such as week, day, and group.

New additions this quarter include fact check, workaround, and First World problem. You can read more about the new and revised words and meanings in this article by Katherine Connor Martin, Head of US Dictionaries.

Our Deputy Chief Editors have written the release notes for September, which take a look at some of the entries in more detail. Philip Durkin examines the history of last, and its associated new phrases fun while it lasted and to last the course, whilst Edmund Weiner investigates the journey of some of the words added to the OED this year, including hi-fi, science fiction, and DIY.

See the words that have been added in this update.

December 2014

More than 500 new words, phrases, and senses have entered the Oxford English Dictionary in December’s update. Many entries have been fully revised for the first time in over 90 years, including good, better, best, and well.

Additions this quarter include g’day, un-PC, and BYOD. You can read more about the new and revised words and meanings in this article by Jonathan Dent, Assistant Editor of the OED.

Our Deputy Chief Editors have written the release notes for this update, which take a look at some of the entries in more detail. Philip Durkin investigates words beginning with un- and their counterparts; Edmund Weiner explores un- words with multiple meanings, including unrigged and unravelled.

See the words that have been added in this update.

December 2013

The December update to the OED includes over 500 new words, phrases, and senses, as well as more than a thousand newly revised entries. Our selections are based on frequency – in general English usage, or of searches by users of OED Online – so the batches of words in quarterly releases are typically diverse.

You can read more about the new and revised words and meanings, including emoji, nappy valley, and sillytonian, in this article by Katherine Martin.

Or take a look at the release notes for this quarter where Graeme Diamond, Principal Editor, narrates the twists in the tale of fairy, and Edmund Weiner, deputy Chief Editor of the OED, writes elegantly about the history of beauty.

See the words that have been added in this update.

September 2013

The September update completes the revision of the pronoun entries in the OED with he, she, it and they; changes seen include the use of it adjectivally for “fashionable”, as in It Girl. Two clusters that have been revised include great and grey, continuing the colour word theme seen in recent updates.

New words and meanings include milchig, fleishig, em>buzzworthy, and bucket list.

You can read more about the revisions and new words in the September 2013 update in this article by the Chief Editor of the OED, John Simpson (his last before retiring in October).

See the words that have been added in this update.

June 2013

The latest range of revised and updated OED entries focuses on the revision of three words – hand,head, and heart – covering 2,875 headwords, compounds, and other expressions including a head for business, handyman special, and heart-wrenching.

Alongside these there are key new additions and revisions from the spheres of technology, popular culture, and current affairs: dad dancing, em>epic, fiscal cliff, flash mob, follow, geekery, pay day lending, the silent treatment, and tweet.

You can read more about the revisions and new words in the June 2013 update in this article by the Chief Editor of the OED, John Simpson.

See the words that have been added in this update.

March 2013

The March update focused on revision of blue, covering 614 headwords, compounds, and other expressions.
New words and meanings include boccia, podium, and whip-smart. Alongside these, we have major clusters around the ranges of: audience and audio-; Caribbean; credit and Creole; friend; gang and gangster; serial and serious, smart, and the volcano words.
You can read more about the revisions and new words in the March 2013 update in this article by the Chief Editor of the OED, John Simpson.
See the words that have been added in this update.

March 2012

This March, we have added 1,947 new and revised entries to the OED, totalling 5,858 lexical items. As well a range of new words, this update sees the revision of time, which is the most-used noun in the English language. Read more about our new additions here, or find out more about the latest steps in our revision programme here.

See the words that have been added in this update.

June 2012

In the June 2012 update we revise some 2,500 SUB- and SUPER- words, including subculture, subvert, supercool, superhero, and supernatural. Super- has been a particularly productive prefix in American political language in 2012: new additions include topical words like super PAC, supermajority, and superdelegate.

The revision also sees new words from the world of economics (quantitative easing), technology (subdomain), and leisure (dance-off). You can read more about the revisions and new words in the June update in this article by the Chief Editor John Simpson. .

We have also improved the OED’s search functionality. Over one million current and historical inflected forms have been added to the database, and author and work titles have been expanded throughout – improving the success of searches for words or quotations in the OED.

See the words that have been added in this update.

September 2012

This quarter sees full updates from affable to always, a sequence that was included in the very first instalment of the OED (A – ant) in 1884. Brand new additions to the OED include mocap, affordable housing, Exchange Alley, and achoo.

You can read more about the revisions and new words in the September update in this article by the Chief Editor of the OED, John Simpson.

Functionality update

We have also made some changes to how an entry’s editing history is shown online, to make the distinction between revised and unrevised entries clearer in OED Online. Find out more here.

See the words that have been added in this update.

December 2012

The revised and updated OED entries in this update covers two general themes: transport and infection. Alongside these, we have major clusters around five keywords: ice, key, save, small, and state. Brand new additions include senioritis, Captcha, and xoloitzcuintli. Read John Simpson’s commentary here.

See the words that have been added in this update.

March 2011

Our latest update to the OED, published on 24 March, revises more than 1,900 entries and adds new words from across the dictionary. It also sees the launch of our new website, which has come a long way since we first moved the dictionary online in 2000. Our Chief Editor has written a commentary on the revisions, as well as what has changed in the world of online dictionaries, and Graeme Diamond and Katherine Martin have provided our new words notes for this quarter.

See the words that have been added in this update.

June 2011

We have added hundreds of words to the OED this quarter, including several to areas that we have already revised. That is one of the benefits of having an online dictionary and, rather topically, this update contains words from the world of computers, including net-neutrality and autocomplete. Read our new words notes to find out more about our newest additions, or take a look at John Simpson’s commentary to find out more about the words that have been revised this quarter.

See the words that have been added in this update.

September 2011

This quarter sees hundreds more words enter the dictionary, including Britcom and securocrat. Read our notes on the latest revision here, or find out more about the new words that have been added in this update.

See the words that have been added in this update.

December 2011

We haven’t just been monitoring the language over the last few months. We’ve also been monitoring how close the OED has come to the milestone of 100,000 new and revised entries published since March 2000, when the dictionary first went online with updated material.
This December 2011 release (AA-AEVUM) takes us past that milestone, and at present the running total stands at 102,133 entries (or 37% of the dictionary entries on OED Online).
The update sees the inclusion of earworm, a catchy tune or piece of music which persistently stays in a person’s mind, especially to the point of irritation, and zero emission. You can read more about our new words in this article by Graeme Diamond, and read our Chief Editor’s commentary here.

See the words that have been added in this update.

March 2010

On 11 March 2010 the New Edition was updated with new materials which fall into three maincategories: (a) alphabetical series of revised entries based around significant words from across the alphabet; (b)the sequence of revised entries from requalify to Rg; (c) a series of new entries and senses from across the alphabet. The OED’s chief editor, John Simpson, provides some observations on the revision of this section of the alphabet, while Michael Proffitt and Graeme Diamond comment on some of the most interesting new words in the batch.
See the words that have been added in this update.

June 2010

On 10 June 2010 the alphabetical range Rh-rococoesque was added to the New Edition: every word in this range has been thoroughly revised and updated. The OED’s chief editor, John Simpson, provides some observations on the revision of this section of the alphabet, and Katherine Martin comments on some of the most interesting new words in the batch.

See the words that have been added in this update.

September 2010

The sixteenth of this month saw our latest update to the OED, which saw the full revision of the range rod-rotness. John Simpson has written some notes on our latest revisions, and Graeme Diamond has provided a commentary on some of our new words.

See the words that have been added in this update.

December 2010

The latest update of the OED, published on 1 December 2010, revises more than 2,400 entries and adds new words from across the dictionary. The OED’s chief editor, John Simpson, provides some observations on the revisions in this update, and Graeme Diamond comments on some of the most interesting new words in the batch.

See the words that have been added in this update.

March 2009

We updated the Third Edition of the dictionary with revisions in several alphabetical ranges in this update. John Simpson, our Chief Editor, has written about our latest revision, which sees the updating of community and human, among other words.

See the words that have been added in this update.

June 2009

Our latest update, on 11 June, saw the revision and addition of words within the range rean-recyclist, as well as the inclusion of many new words from across the alphabet. John Simpson, our Chief Editor, has written a commentary on the revision of this section of the alphabet, and Graeme Diamond, Principal Editor, has written some notes on some of the more interesting new words.

See the words that have been added in this update.

September 2009

On 10 September 2009 the New Edition was updated with new materials which fall into three main categories: (a) alphabetical series of revised entries based around significant words from across the alphabet; (b) the sequence of revised entries from red to refulgent; (c) a series of new entries and senses from across the alphabet. For further details see the Chief Editor’s commentary on the latest revision.

See the words that have been added in this update.

December 2009

The range refund-reputeless was added to the dictionary on 10 December, alongside a batch of words that fall outside the alphabetical range. The OED’s Chief Editor, John Simpson, has written some notes on the revision of this section, and the Managing Editor, Michael Proffitt, has written our new words notes.

See the words that have been added in this update.

March 2008

On 13 March 2008 the New Edition was updated with revised entries in a series of discrete alphabetical ranges, as well as the addition of new entries from across the alphabet. In some ranges, not every entry was revised, as editorial effort was concentrated on the most significant groups of related words. In addition, about 30 virus names were revised across the alphabet. For further details see the Chief Editor’s commentary on the latest revision.

See the words that have been added in this update.

June 2008

On 12 June 2008 the alphabetical range quittal-ramvert was added to the New Edition: every word in this range has been thoroughly revised and updated. The new additions include the noun rollercoastering, the first use of which was recorded in 1913 in the Los Angeles Times: ‘There will be regular debauches of bump-the-bumps and howling sprees of merry-go-rounding and roller-coastering’ .

See the words that have been added in this update.

September 2008

This quarter, we have updated the dictionary with revised entries from a series of discrete alphabetical ranges, as well as new entries from across the alphabet. In some ranges, not every entry was revised as our editors were focusing on the most significant groups of related words. In addition, entries for days of the week and months of the year were revised. Read more about the latest revisions in the Chief Editor’s commentary on the latest revision.

See the words that have been added in this update.

December 2008

On 11 December 2008 the alphabetical range ran-reamy was added to the New Edition: every word in this range has been thoroughly revised and updated. Below are listed all the new words in the range. We have also added a further list of new words from across the alphabet.

The OED’s chief editor, John Simpson, provides some observations on the revision of this section of the alphabet, and Graeme Diamond comments on some of the most interesting new words in the batch.

See the words that have been added in this update.

March 2007

On 15 March 2007 the alphabetical range Prakrit-prim was added to the New Edition: every word in this range has been thoroughly revised and updated.
The OED’s chief editor, John Simpson, has provided some observations on the revision of this section of the alphabet, and Graeme Diamond comments on some of the most interesting new words in the batch.

See the words that have been added in this update.

June 2007

14 June sees the inclusion of the range prima-poteose in the OED, as well as a further selection of words from across the alphabet. A few of our new additions are princessy, suitable for a princess, and Prince Valiant, chiefly North American term for a hairstyle resembling that of any representations of Prince Valiant.

See the words that have been added in this update.

September 2007

On 14 September, we added the thoroughly revised and updated range proter-purposive to the dictionary, as well as a selection of new words from across the alphabet. This update sees the inclusion of pullikins, which are forceps or pliers used to extract teeth. Now historical, the term seems to have come from pull plus kins, the i added apparently for euphony.

See the words that have been added in this update.

December 2007

Our December update this year sees the completion of the revision of words beginning with p, and covers purpress-quit shilling as well as other words from across the alphabet. A quit shilling is a sum of money spent by a prisoner in terms of his or her acquittal, although the word is now obsolete.

See the words that have been added in this update.

March 2006

We published our latest range of entries, philanthropal-pimento, on the sixteenth of the month, alongside a batch of new entries from across the alphabet. New words this quarter include phlebotomy and photo-imaging. Phwoar! What an update.

See the words that have been added in this update.

June 2006

15 June sees the alphabetical range pi-mesic-pleating added to the New Edition, as well as several words outside of the sequence. Additions include Plato’s cave and, less philosophically, playtime.

See the words that have been added in this update.

September 2006

The range of entries pleb-Pomak was published on 14 September, as well as many words from across the alphabet. One of our new words is pletzel, a flat roll, similar to a bagel, with a crisp or chewy texture.

See the words that have been added in this update.

December 2006

This 14 December, we have added our latest batch of new and revised words to the Third Edition of the OED, which includes pomander-prajnaparamita. As well as Pompadour pink, power-up, and poster child have joined the dictionary.

See the words that have been added in this update.

March 2005

The tenth of this month sees the completion of the letter o in our revision programme as we add our new and revised entries for the batch ovesting-Papua New Guinean to the Third Edition. Non-alphabetical additions this quarter include cool Britannia and diddly-squat.

See the words that have been added in this update.

June 2005

This quarter, we have continued to update the Third Edition and have added new and revised entries for the range papula-Paul, as well as to other areas of the alphabet. In our update, which went live on the 25 June, we revised party, n., and words such as party hat, party leadership, party-pooping, and party whip have been included in its senses.

See the words that have been added in this update.

September 2005

The range of entries Paul-Bunnell-perfay has been published in our September update, which went live on 18 September . Perfay, an obsolete interjection, means ‘by my faith; truly; indeed, certainly’. First used in c1300, it seems to have fallen out of use in the seventieth and eighteenth centuries only to be revived in archaic and poetic use in the nineteenth century.

See the words that have been added in this update.

December 2005

15 December saw the publication of the range of entries perfect-philandering in the New Edition, as well as many new words from across the alphabet. As well as perfect age, perfect crime, and perfect rhyme, we have added Philadelphia cheesesteak: a sandwich that is typically made with slices of fried beef, onions, and cheese, and served in a hard roll.

See the words that have been added in this update.

March 2004

Entries in the range nud-ollycrock comprise the bulk of the latest batch of words to enter the OED on 11 March. Our latest additions include old schooler and water birth, as well as yeehaw and .

See the words that have been added in this update.

June 2004

As of our last update in June, the New Edition revision programme reached the alphabetical range beginning with o, and this release sees the inclusion and revision of words in the range olm-orature, as well as others from across the alphabet.Omega-3, ooff, and opinionatedly have all been added, as have TV land and television land.

See the words that have been added in this update.

September 2004

On 9 September, we added our new range of entries to the OED Online, orb-ottroye, as well as a series of other words from across the alphabet, and the dictionary has taken a caffeine boost with the addition of Caffè latte, caffè espresso, and caffè macchiato.

See the words that have been added in this update.

December 2004

On the ninth of the month, we released our latest batch of entries, which includes words from ou-overzealousness. Outside of the alphabetical range, we have added BBQ and vavoom, as well as the verbs problem-solve andsupersize.

See the words that have been added in this update.

March 2003

13 Mach saw the publication of our latest range of new and revised entries for the Third Edition of the OED, Motswana-mussy. As well as computing terms such as MUD and multibit, this update sees the inclusion of Muggle. Coined by J. K. Rowling in the Harry Potter series, it denotes a person who possesses no magical powers and, in extended use, a person who lacks a particular skill or who is regarded as inferior in some way. Additions outside of our alphabetical range this quarter include beanie and

See the words that have been added in this update.

June 2003

On 12 June, we published our latest range of revisions and additions, which sees the completion (for now!) of words beginning with m: must-necessity. This must-read update includes mutsuddy, y bad, and nebbishly, as well as our usual out-of-range additions.

See the words that have been added in this update.

September 2003

11 September saw the publication of necial-Nipissing, as well as many out-of-range additions. New-dead, newbie, and newsmongering have all been added this quarter.

See the words that have been added in this update.

December 2003

On the eleventh of the month, we released our latest batch of entries, which includes words from Nipkow disc-nuculoid. One of additions is noctivigate which is a rare verb meaning to wander or roam about at night.

See the words that have been added in this update.

March 2002

Entries within the range mid-Mirzapur were published on 14 March, as well as a selection of words from elsewhere in the alphabet. Additions this quarter include midibus, all-you-can-eat, and brain-box.

See the words that have been added in this update.

June 2002

On 13 June, we published our latest range of revisions and additions, mis-mitzvah, as well as a mittful of words from across the alphabet. Our new words include prebiotic and misery guts.

See the words that have been added in this update.

September 2002

12 September saw the publication of the range of entries mivvy-monnisher, as well as our usual out-of-range additions. The adjective Mizzle-shinned, having one’s legs red and blotched from sitting too near a fire, is one of our new words, as is evo-devo, which is a branch of biology concerned with the interaction of evolutionary developmental processes.

See the words that have been added in this update.

December 2002

Our December update focused on entries within mono-motrix, and contains mono-brow and morna, a song of lament in the Cape Verde Islands.

See the words that have been added in this update.

March 2001

On 15 March 2001, we published entries within the range mast-meaty. Highlights include mathlete and the now-historical Matthew’s pill, which takes its name from Richard Matthew, a seventeenth-century English medical practitioner, and denotes a pill sold as an antidote to various poisons.

See the words that have been added in this update.

June 2001

On 14 June 2001 we added new words from the range of entries mebbe-memsahib. We have also added a further list of new words from across the alphabet, including acid jazz and DJ-ing.

See the words that have been added in this update.

September 2001

13 September saw the publication of the range of entries Men-mesylation in the New Edition, as well as a selection of words from across the alphabet. Additions include meringue as a verb, as well as DVD, e-book, and e-ticket.

See the words that have been added in this update.

December 2001

Our December update focused on entries within the range met-micturition, as well as several words from across the alphabet such as girl power and text message.

See the words that have been added in this update.

March 2000

The launch of the OED Online

14 March 2000 saw the launch of the OED Online. Available online for the first time was the entire text of OED’s Second Edition (1989) and Additions Series (1993 and 1997), along with the first range of revised and new entries from the revision programme. The first range of New Edition entries are M-mahurat.

See the words that have been added in this update.

June 2000

On 15 June, we published a new range of entries, mai-mamzer, for the Third Edition of the OED. This update also saw the addition of the Bibliography to the Second Edition”.

See the words that have been added in this update.

September 2000

On 15 September, we added the range of entries man-march stone in the New Edition, which includes man haul and Manhattanize.

See the words that have been added in this update.

December 2000

14 December 2000 saw the publication of the range marciaton-massymoreto the Third Edition, which includes margherita, both as an adjective and noun, and marley, which is a name for a child’s marble in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and some areas of England.

See the words that have been added in this update.