By taking ownership of English and using it as their own medium of expression, Nigerians have made, and are continuing to make, a unique and distinctive contribution to English as a global language.
We highlight their contributions in this month’s update of the Oxford English Dictionary, as a number of Nigerian English words make it into the dictionary for the first time.
Here you can find a list of the new Nigerian words and senses added to the OED in the update 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.
