Posts by Oxford Dictionaries

Tweet geekery and epic crowdsourcing: an Oxford English Dictionary update

Today the Oxford English Dictionary announces its latest update, which sees the inclusion of over 1200 newly revised and updated words. The additions bring the OED’s total number of entries – including headwords, sub-senses, phrases, and compounds – to over 823,000. Let’s take a look at some of the most intriguing words included in the OED [...]

Posted on: June 13 2013 | Comments: 102 | Categories: Dictionaries and lexicography | Tags: , , , ,

Mother’s Day limerick competition: the winner

Thank you very much to everyone who entered our recent competition, where we asked you to compose a limerick to celebrate Mother’s Day (13 May in the US and various countries around the world) since it coincided with Limerick Day this year. This competition closed on Wednesday 29 May. We had many exceptionally good entries, [...]

Posted on: June 1 2013 | Comments: 0 | Categories: Competitions and quizzes | Tags: ,

Ask a lexicographer: part 3

Every now and again, we like to share a few of the very interesting questions sent to us by users of Oxford Dictionaries. Read on to learn about grammatical and conventional markings, the complex origins of a spelling convention, and more. Which colour? You can say either. Both have entries in the Oxford English Dictionary, [...]

Posted on: May 31 2013 | Comments: 0 | Categories: Dictionaries and lexicography, English in use, Grammar and writing help | Tags: , , ,

Who cares about English? Part 2

We at the Oxford English Dictionary recently partnered with the British Council to host a panel discussion entitled ‘Who cares about English?’ The panel was chaired by John Knagg, Head of English Research at the British Council, and consisted of: John Simpson, Chief Editor of the OED Romesh Gunesekera, Booker prize shortlisted novelist Henry Hitchings, [...]

Posted on: March 20 2013 | Comments: 1 | Categories: English in use, Varieties of English | Tags: , , , , , , ,

David Crystal’s favourite words

David Crystal is one of the world’s greatest authorities on the English language and has written many books on the subject. The forthcoming book Wordsmiths and Warriors by David and Hilary Crystal explores the heritage of English through the places in Britain that shaped it [...]

Posted on: March 14 2013 | Comments: 1 | Categories: Dictionaries and lexicography | Tags: , ,

Early Grey: The results of the OED Appeal on Earl Grey tea

Charles, the 2nd Earl Grey (1764–1845), was born on 13 March. He served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the early 1830s, but is most famous today for his association with Earl Grey tea, a type of China tea flavoured with the citrus extract bergamot. But did Earl Grey ever actually drink Earl [...]

Posted on: March 13 2013 | Comments: 4 | Categories: Dictionaries and lexicography, OED Appeals | Tags:

What do you call a librarian on Tumblr?

There is nothing, it seems, that the Internet loves so much as . . . well, cats falling off draining boards, but second to that, it’s abbreviations. As technology and social media expand, and communities continue to grow across the Internet, so language and language use develop and adapt to cater to new situations. From [...]

Posted on: March 12 2013 | Comments: 1 | Categories: English in use | Tags: , , , ,

Baby Names Generator: from Amelia to Zebedee

Spring is fast approaching, and with this comes new life (in the animal and plant world anyway), so what better season than spring to launch our fantastic new Baby Name Generator! Our generator has been specially designed to help you choose the perfect name for your future baby, boy or girl, hypothetical or about to [...]

Posted on: March 1 2013 | Comments: 23 | Categories: English in use, Interactive features | Tags: , ,

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