Amala, Nyash, Abeg – Oxford English Dictionary Adds New Nigerian Words To Latest Update
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has further enriched its collection by including new Nigerian and West African words in its latest update, released in December 2025 and extended into 2026. The announcement was made on Wednesday via X, highlighting terms drawn from everyday speech, food, music, markets, and pop culture, reflecting the growing global influence of African languages on English. The December 2025 update introduced over 500 new words, phrases, and senses, while revising more than 1,000 existing entries as part of the OED’s quarterly review process. Catherine Sangster, Author and Head of Pronunciations at the OED, said the update represents a significant step in documenting pronunciations across different English varieties. “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. We also celebrate a decade of OED having spoken pronunciations, first added in December 2015,” Sangster noted. She added that the update expanded audio pronunciation features, including multiple recordings where necessary, with several West African English terms receiving new pronunciations. Among the Nigerian entries added is abeg, which the OED defines as an interjection or adverb “to express a range of emotions, such as surprise, exasperation, disbelief, etc.” Another is amala, described as “a kind of dough made of yam, cassava, or unripe plantain flour, typically formed into a ball and served as an accompaniment to other dishes.” The dictionary also formally recognised Afrobeats, defined as “originally: a style of popular music incorporating elements of West African music and of jazz, soul, and funk.” Other Nigerian and West African terms added include Ghana Must Go, biko, Mammy Market, nyash, and Moi Moi, words widely used in daily conversation and cultural contexts in Nigeria and Ghana. Additional African entries include abrokyire, Adowa, ampesi, benachin, bichir, domoda, dumboy, hiplife, kpanlogo, light soup, nawetan, obroni, poda-poda, and yassa. This latest expansion follows a previous update in which the OED added 20 Nigerian words, including japa, agbero, eba, 419, and abi, reflecting Nigerian street language, food culture, migration discussions, and online slang. Other entries from that list included area boy, yahoo boy, yahoo, Naija, suya, kobo, Edo, Kanuri, jand, janded, cross-carpet, and cross-carpeting. The updates underscore the OED’s ongoing effort to capture the evolving English language and highlight the growing global impact of African words and expressions.