What’s new
September 2017 update
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 a full list of new words, subentries, and senses added in this update.
The OED publishes four updates a year. The next update will be added to the dictionary in January 2018.
The OED Appeals
The OED Appeals is a major new online initiative involving the public in tracing the history of English words. Using a dedicated community space on the OED website, editors are soliciting help in unearthing new information about the history and usage of English, including the earliest examples of particular words. The website enables the public to post evidence in direct response to OED editors online, fostering a collective effort to record the English language and find the true roots of our vocabulary.
Find out more about the OED Appeals
Video: An introduction to the OED Appeals
Read a history of the OED’s Appeals to the public
Articles on OED Online
Windows on to words: dive into the OED!
Shapers of English: Tania Styles looks at place names in the OED.
English in time: Eleanor Maier explores how the ‘buster’ suffix has become ubiquitous.
English in use: Penny Silva writes about South African English.
More English in use: Richard Shapiro examines whether Indian cardinal numbers are the most distinctive counting system in English.
Word stories: Denny Hilton on The ‘auto-’ age.
Word of the Day: Sign up to Word of the Day or follow OED Online on .
Videos
Video shorts: a series of videos now live examines how the OED is produced behind the scenes: