Oxford Dictionary Nigerian words feature prominently in the December 2025 update, highlighting Nigeria’s cultural and linguistic influence
The Oxford English Dictionary has added several Nigerian-origin words in its December 2025 update, reflecting Nigeria’s expanding influence on global language, culture and cuisine.
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The update, released on Wednesday on the OED website, introduced more than 500 new words, phrases and meanings, while revising over 1,000 existing entries.
Editors also re-examined the histories of familiar words such as troll, coffee and snooker.
Among the new additions are widely used Nigerian expressions and food items, including nyash, mammy market, amala, moi moi, abeg, biko and Ghana Must Go.
The entries capture everyday speech patterns, culinary traditions and historical references rooted in Nigerian society.
The update also retained Afrobeats, defined as a style of popular music blending West African sounds with jazz, soul and funk, reinforcing Nigeria’s global musical footprint.
The dictionary defines abeg as an interjection conveying emotions such as surprise, disbelief or exasperation, while biko, borrowed from the Igbo language, is described as a polite expression meaning please, often used for emphasis or urgency.
Nyash is defined as a person’s buttocks, while mammy market refers to markets typically operated by women, historically located in military barracks and later in youth service camps and educational institutions.
Ghana Must Go, another notable addition, describes the large chequered plastic bags commonly used across West Africa.
The term traces its origin to Nigeria’s 1983 expulsion of undocumented Ghanaian migrants, giving the phrase lasting historical weight.
In the cuisine category, the OED recognised amala, a dough-like staple made from yam, cassava or plantain flour, and moi moi, a steamed bean pudding originating from Yoruba cuisine.
OED editors noted that the update draws from English varieties worldwide, including West African, Maltese, Japanese and South Korean English, signalling a decisive shift towards recognising global English usage.
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The Oxford English Dictionary Nigerian words update follows a similar expansion in January 2025, when 20 Nigerian terms such as japa, agbero, eba, 419 and abi were added, further cementing Nigerian English as a powerful force in modern vocabulary.
David Okere is a journalist and contributor to Freelanews.com, covering business, governance, public affairs, and human-interest stories with a commitment to accuracy, balance, and public interest reporting.
