Discover the story of English
More than 600,000 words, over a thousand years
Welcome to OED Online. If you or your library subscribes, dive straight in to the riches of the English language. If not, click on the images below to learn more about the OED, see What's new, or take a look at Aspects of English, our language feature section.
Our latest update: over 1,650 new words, sub-entries, and revisions have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary in our latest update, including deadname, staycation, and social distance.
Release notes: learn more about the words added to the OED this quarter in our new word notes by OED Revision Editor, Jonathan Dent.
Release notes: read all about the revision of fast and slow in our blog post by OED Revision Editor, Eleanor Maier.
Oxford Languages Word of the Year 2020
2020 has been anything but ordinary, and this is a year which cannot be neatly accommodated in one single word. Download our Words of an Unprecedented Year report to read the full story.