Which words?

Spotlight: How do you choose words or phrases to be included in the the OEDOxford English DictionaryOED?

Jennifer: By looking at how much evidence there is. Generally, we want to see a wide range of evidence from a variety of independent sources, with sustainedanhaltendsustained or growing usage over a period of years. 

What sources do you use to find words, and how have the parameters changed?

We use all sorts of sources: books, journals, newspapers, library databases, corpora (large databaseDatenbankdata­bases of texts), suggestions from our reading programme, suggestions from the general public, social media, letters, song lyrics, transcripts from TV shows – and many others. Depending on the word, certain types of sources may be more relevant than others. For example, when I was searching for early evidence of “headcanonetwas, das man persönlich über Charaktere in Medien, Büchern, Serien oder Videospielen für wahr hältheadcanon”, I spent time looking at LiveJournal, Tumblr, Twittersoziales Netzwerk (seit 2023 „X“)Twitter (now X), fanfiction websites and other internet forums, but when I was looking for the earliest evidence of “interdimensionaletwas, das sich zwischen mehreren Raum- oder Zeitdimensionen bewegt oder existiertinterdimensional”, I spent more time looking at early science-fiction novels and magazines. 

One of my favourite words is “Fluffernutter”

We have much better tools now to search electronic databases of texts, which means we have quicker access to more evidence than the early editors of the OED: they had to rely on books, newspaper clippingZeitungsausschnittnewspaper clippings and handwritten slipZettelslips of paper with quotationZitat, Spruch, Wortquotations on them.

How long does a word have to be in use for it to be included?

It depends on how much evidence there is. Editors look at both how common a word is, and how long it has been in use. Typically, we’d like to see at least five to ten years of use, but a more recent word that’s very common could still qualify. “Covid-19” was added after only four months.

What’s your favourite word that you’ve included?

There are far too many! I enjoyed working on “Fluffernutter” (a sandwich filled with peanut butter and marshmallow spreadAufstrichspread or crème). While I don’t think I’d enjoy eating one, it’s such a delightfully quirkyskurrilquirky word.