The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has expanded its entries to include a wide range of Nigerian and West African words and expressions in its December 2025 update, which continues into 2026.
The update, announced on Wednesday via X, reflects the growing influence of African languages and culture on global English, with terms drawn from music, food, everyday speech, markets, and pop culture.
The latest revision introduced over 500 new words, phrases, and meanings, while updating more than 1,000 existing entries as part of the OED’s regular quarterly review.
Catherine Sangster, Author and Head of Pronunciations at the OED, said the update is a milestone in documenting pronunciations across the world’s 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 said. She added that multiple audio recordings have been included where necessary, and several West African English terms now have updated pronunciations.
Among the Nigerian terms added is abeg, which can function as an interjection or adverb “to express a range of emotions, such as surprise, exasperation, disbelief, etc.” Another addition is amala, defined 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 update also formally recognises Afrobeats, described as “originally: a style of popular music incorporating elements of West African music and of jazz, soul, and funk.” Other Nigerian and West African words included are Ghana Must Go, biko, Mammy Market, nyash, and Moi Moi, commonly used in everyday conversation and cultural contexts.
Additional African terms added are abrokyire, Adowa, ampesi, benachin, bichir, domoda, dumboy, hiplife, kpanlogo, light soup, nawetan, obroni, poda-poda, and yassa.
This expansion builds on an earlier 2025 update, which added 20 Nigerian words and expressions such as japa, agbero, eba, 419, abi, area boy, yahoo boy, Naija, suya, kobo, Edo, Kanuri, jand, janded, cross-carpet, and cross-carpeting, covering street language, food, migration, and online slang.
The latest additions reflect the OED’s continued effort to document the dynamic evolution of English while highlighting the rising global impact of African languages and culture.
