Every couple of months, a group of language researchers at Oxford University come together to determine which new words should be added to the Oxford Dictionary.
Over the past couple of years, the dictionary has seen some fantastic, strange and extremely ridiculous additions. Because of the rise in social media and digital activity, the English language has grown and words that might have previously come and gone, have found a way to survive.
We look at 5 of our favourite words added to the dictionary in the past couple of years.
Onesie
The fashion industry always finds a way to invent clothing that doesn’t make much sense and that looks a bit ridiculous. And the Onesie is the latest fashion invention that has taken the industry by storm.
“a loose-fitting one-piece leisure garment for adults, covering the torso and legs”
You can buy a onesie in many of the high street fashion retailers, at festivals and at markets. And if you want to share the joy of your onesie there are special onesie club nights being held up and down the UK.
Flexitarian
A flexitarian, what’s that? I hear you ask. Well…
“a person who eats a predominantly vegetarian diet, but who eats meat or fish occasionally”
Effectively, it’s a lazy vegetarian. Someone who likes the idea of being a vegetarian but can’t quite live a fully meat free diet.
Floordrobe
Floordrobe is another word related to the fashion world that has apparently popped up in conversations enough to make it into the dictionary. What do the team at Oxford say it means?
“a pile of clothes left on the floor of a room”
So it’s not the description of a crazy new wardrobe built into the floor, but instead a word to describe a pile of clothes…
Amazeballs
“amazing”
When something is so amazing, it becomes “amazeballs” according to internet blogger Perez Hilton who first coined this term. Now it’s appearing on our TV’s, on mugs and there’s even a “Totes Amazeballs” cereal. Amazing.
Hangry
“the irrational irritation one gets when he or she is hungry”
As “fastisfied” didn’t make it into the most recent dictionary update, we had to go with the next best eating emotion, “hangry”, the anger and irritation that you get when you are hungry.
There were so many great words that didn’t quite make it into our list including “bashtag”, “tweeps”, “boyf”, “photobomb” and more.
We love the English language as it is always developing, taking influence from other languages, youth, culture and from new technology. We can’t wait to see what they add to the next dictionary update.
