December 2013 update

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 a full list of the new words, sub-entries, and senses added in this update.