Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has introduced 29 Nigerian words and expressions in the January updates to its glossary.
Danica Salazar, OED’s World English editor, announced this in a blog post last week, the news of the latest addition went viral recently.
Danica Salazar said, “The majority of these new additions are either borrowings from Nigerian languages or unique Nigerian coinages that have only begun to be used in English in the second half of the twentieth century, mostly in the 1970s and 1980s.
Some of the words and expressions added to the updated edition of the dictionary include Buka, chop-chop, ember months, Guber, next tomorrow, and tokunbo, among others.
Full list of the new entries added and their respective meanings below:
- agric, adj. & n.
- barbing salon, n.
- buka, n.
- bukateria, n.
- chop, v./6
- chop-chop, n./2
- danfo, n.
- to eat money, in eat, v.
- ember months, n.
- flag-off, n.
- to flag off in flag, v.
- gist, n./3
- gist, v./2
- guber, adj.
- Kannywood, n.
- K-leg, n.
- mama put, n.
- next tomorrow, n. & adv.
- non-indigene, adj. & n.
- okada, n.
- to put to bed, in put, v.
- qualitative, adj.
- to rub minds (together) in rub, v./1
- sef, adv.
- send-forth, n.
- severally, adv.
- tokunbo, adj.
- zone, v.
- zoning, n.
