Aunties, uncles, tube lights among 26 new Indian words in Oxford dictionary

Aunties, uncles and tube lights have made it to the latest edition of the world’s best selling dictionary, Oxford with 26 new Indian English words being added to a total of 384 existing ones.

The 384 words in the 10th edition of the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary come with an Indian English label, including 22 new additions in print and 26 in the online edition. These include headwords and also some individual meanings or idioms. Some of the new additions with an Indian-English label include Aadhaar (system of issuing a unique 12 digit identification to every individual in India), the Oxford Dictionaries Hindi Word of the Year for 2017, Chawl (a large building divided into separate apartments offering cheap and basic accommodation) ,Shaadi (wedding or marriage) ,Dabba (a container with a meal or snack) and Hartal (an occasion when all shops and businesses are closed in protest) . However, the Oxford Dictionaries Hindi Word of the Year for 2018 – Nari Shakti, hasn’t made it to the OALD10e.

Other words

The other Indian English words that made it to OALD10e are: Auntie (polite way of addressing or referring to an older woman), Auntieji (if you want to sound especially polite), similarly Uncle/Uncleji; Bus Stand (Bus Station), Mugging (learning something by repeating it until you remember it rather than by understanding the meaning of it), Tube light (a fluorescent light in the shape of a tube), Tempo (a vehicle with three wheels, used to deliver goods), Rowdy sheeter (a person who has been found guilty of multiple crimes in the past), Non-veg (containing or serving meat and fish/having a diet that includes meat and fish), Veg (suitable for a person who does not eat meat or fish, not containing or serving meat or fish), Needful (to do what is necessary), Kindly (used to acknowledge and apologise for something that causes problems or difficulties and ask people to accept and adapt to the situation), Looting (crime of stealing money or property from a person or place) Videograph (to make a video recording of somebody or something), FIR (the abbreviation for first information report), extern (to order somebody to leave a region or district as a punishment), Deemed University (an institution of higher education that is officially accredited as a university) are some of the others words.

“A language is a living and dynamic thing, it should never be static. Humans create a language and its evolutionary, and thats why I am so excited that the Oxford Dictionary for the last few decades has been absorbing words from other languages through common usage in English. I think its a beautiful thing” said Fathima Dada, Managing Director, Education Division at Oxford University Press, told BusinessLine .

The 10th edition of OALD comes with interactive online support through the Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries website and the OALD10e app. The website includes advanced features such as audio/video tutorials, video walkthroughs, self-study activities and enhanced iWriter and iSpeaker tools — making the dictionary a must have for students, learners and educators. With iSpeaker, learners can get help preparing for speaking exams and presentations. With iWriter, learners can plan, write and review their written work.

OALD10e is published in print (paperback or hardback) with 1-year access to premium content on the website and the OALD10e app. With the OALD app one can find 86,000 words, 95,000 phrases, 112,000 meanings, 237,000 examples. The resources accessible through online premium access include lesson plans, worksheets, video walkthroughs, and classroom and self-study activities.