The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has added nearly 500 new words, phrases, and meanings to its lexicon, including several originating from West Africa, highlighting the growing global influence of African languages on English.
The update also included revisions to over 1,000 existing entries, exploring the history and evolving usage of terms such as troll, snooker, and various coffee-related expressions.
The new additions reflect the global diversity of English, with entries drawn from West African, Maltese, Japanese, and South Korean English. According to the OED, these updates underscore how English continues to evolve through regional influences worldwide.
Several West African expressions have gained wider recognition, including abrokyire, nyash, abeg, Ghana Must Go, Adowa, and obroni. Many of these terms relate to food, music, markets, pop culture, and everyday conversation, highlighting the continued cultural influence of African languages on modern English.
Catherine Sangster, Head of Pronunciations at the OED, described the update as a milestone in documenting spoken English worldwide.
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“With this update, we introduce a new model for the transcription of Maltese English pronunciations; this is the nineteenth World English pronunciation model in our collection,” she said.
Sangster added that the revision coincides with a decade since spoken pronunciations were first introduced in December 2015.
The latest update reflects both changes in vocabulary and evolving global pronunciation, demonstrating the increasingly visible role of African languages in shaping English.
Read the full list below of words below:
https://www.oed.com/information/updates/december-2025/new-word-entries
