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Woot woot–get ready to retweet this breaking news.

Due to the incredible response to Angus Stevenson’s morning post, we’ve decided to share a little bit more about the brand new Concise Oxford English Dictionary, which is celebrating its 100th birthday. This fully updated 12th edition contains more than 240,000 words, phrases, and definitions, covering technical and scientific vocabulary as well as informal language and English from around the world. 400 of these entries are totally new; here’s just a small sample of what’s been added:

cyberbullying: n. the use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending messages of an intimidating or threatening nature.

denialist: n. a person who refuses to admit the truth of a concept or proposition that is supported by the majority of scientific or historical evidence.

domestic goddess: n. informal a woman with exceptional domestic skills, especially cookery.

jeggings: pl. n. tight-fitting stretch trousers for women, styled to resemble a pair of denim jeans.

mankini: n. (pl. mankinis) a brief one-piece bathing garment for men, with a T-back.

retweet: v. (on the social networking service Twitter) repost or forward (a message posted by another user). n. a reposted or forwarded message on Twitter.

sexting: n. informal the sending of sexually explicit photographs or messages via mobile phone.

slow food: n. food that is carefully produced or prepared in accordance with local culinary traditions.

upcycle: v. reuse (discarded objects or material) in such a way as to create a product of higher quality or value than the original.

woot: exclam. informal (especially in electronic communication) used to express elation, enthusiasm, or triumph.

Are you suprised? Delighted? Which one is your favourite?

The Concise Oxford English Dictionary has come a long way in 100 years. In the video below, Senior OED Editor Fiona McPherson talks us through the history.

Recent Comments

  1. Patty

    Woot!

  2. Rachel Thomas

    I wonder if they sell mankinis with extra moob support?

    Which leads me on to ask whether moobs have yet made the dictionary?

  3. Merle Tenney

    It is good to see “woot” on the list. I have seen it on other lists of new words recently, but I am surprised that none of the authorities, including Oxford, seem to know the origin.

    “Woot” comes from the world of onlime gaming. When you beat your opponent, you get to to exclaim “Woot!”, which is an acronym for “We own other team!”

    Another way to say that is to say that you “pwn” them, with pronunciation PONE. “Pwn” is an accidental/intentional mistyping of “own” (due to the proximity of the o and p keys), but that spelling is de rigueur by our hip young friends. And once the rest of us figure it out, then it will no longer be cool, I mean, kewl.

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