'When you look back at older versions of dictionaries, there were lots of examples of flowers for instance,' she said. No longer can a child check this dictionary and learn more about the blackberry, dandelion, acorn, heron, otter, magpie, sycamore, or willow.Īccording to Vineeta Gupta, who heads children's dictionaries at Oxford University Press, changes in the world are responsible for changes in the book. Yas exclamation: Expressing great pleasure or excitement.To make way for modern tech terms such as BlackBerry, blog, voicemail and broadband, the latest edition of the Oxford Junior Dictionary has opted to drop terms pertaining to old nature. Third gender noun: A category of people who do not identify as male or female, but rather as neither, both, or a combination of male and female genders. Squad goals noun: Used in reference to a person or thing seen as a model to aspire to or emulate, especially with one’s friends (often as a hashtag in social media). Smishing noun: The fraudulent practice of sending text messages purporting to be from reputable companies in order to induce individuals to reveal personal information, such as passwords or credit card numbers.

Shoestring fries noun: French fries sliced extremely thinly. Screencast noun: A video recording or transmission of the data displayed on the screen of a computer or mobile device, typically with accompanying audio. Sausage party noun: An event or group in which the majority of participants are male.

Otherkin adjective: Denoting or relating to people who identify as non-human. Otherize verb: View or treat (a person or group of people) as intrinsically different from and alien to oneself. Meet-cute noun: (in a film or television program) an amusing or charming first encounter between two characters that leads to the development of a romantic relationship between them. Herd mentality noun: The tendency for people’s behavior or beliefs to conform to those of the group to which they belong. Here’s a selection from the latest update, according to the Oxford blog post:Ĭat lady noun: An older woman who lives alone with a large number of cats, to which she is thought to be obsessively devoted.Ĭraptacular adjective: Remarkably poor or disappointing.ĭrink the haterade phrase: Indulge in excessively negative, critical, or resentful behavior.ĭrop bear noun: A mythical marsupial resembling a koala, said to live in trees and attack people by dropping on to their heads from above.ĭrunk text noun: A text message sent while drunk, typically one that is embarrassing or foolish.įemslash noun: A genre of fiction, chiefly published online, in which female characters who appear together in film, television, or other popular media are portrayed as having a sexual relationship.įitspo noun: Short for fitspiration, a person or thing that serves as motivation for someone to sustain or improve health and fitness.įreecycle verb: Give away (something used or unwanted), as opposed to selling it or throwing it away, especially in an arrangement made via the Internet.įrita noun: (in Cuban cuisine) a sandwich consisting of a fried cake of seasoned pork and beef that is topped with very thinly cut chips and served in a roll.

Oxford dictionaries words blog