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Showing posts from January, 2025

20 More Nigerian Words Included In Oxford Dictionary

by: Josiah Egbilika  Just like in 2020 when 29 Nigerian words, such as danfo, okada, next tomorrow, and mama put were included in the Oxford Dictionary, another milestone has been achieved in 2025 as The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has added a more collection of Nigerian words to its latest update. In this latest update, 20 new words were included into the dictionary with majority of them from being lexicons from Nigerian Pidgin.  The words added to the dictionary include: 1. 419 2. abi 3. adire 4. agbero 5. area boy 6. cross-carpet 7. cross-carpeting 8. eba 9. Edo 10. gele 11. jand (noun, verb) 12. janded (adjective) 13. Japa (noun, verb) 14. Kanuri 15. Kobo 16. Naija 17. suya 18. Yahoo 19. Yahoo boy, and 20. Yarn Dust These additions showcase Nigeria’s cultural diversity, daily life, and street culture while highlighting the rising influence of Nigerian Pidgin across Africa and beyond. The 20 included words are in addition to at least 57 Nigerian words already in the dic...