The Oxford English Dictionary has added several words of Nigerian origin in its latest update, reflecting the growing global influence of the country’s language, culture and cuisine.
The December 2025 update, posted on the OED website on Wednesday, contains more than 500 new words, phrases and meanings, including internet slang such as “DM,” “brainfart” and “chug.”
More than 1,000 existing entries were also revised, with editors exploring the history of words such as “troll,” “coffee” and “snooker.”
The update adds content on various Englishes spoken around the world, including West African English, Maltese English, Japanese English and Korean English, whose growing global influence OED editors note.
Nigerian entries include everyday words and foods, including “nyash,” “mammy market,” “amala,” “moi moi,” “abeg,” “biko” and “Ghana Must Go.”
The update includes “Afrobeats,” defined as “a popular music style that incorporates elements of West African music, jazz, soul, and funk.”
The dictionary describes “abeg” as an interjection used to express a range of emotions, such as surprise, anger, disbelief, depending on the context.
“Biko” originally comes from the Igbo language and is defined as an adverb and interjection used to politely request or agree, or to add polite emphasis or urgency: “please”. “
“Nyash” is defined as “the buttocks of a person (especially a woman); the bottom, the back”.
Also added was “Ghana Must Go,” a popular name for the large plaid plastic bags widely used in West Africa, an expression dating back to Nigeria’s mass deportations of undocumented Ghanaian immigrants in 1983.
It is defined as “a large zippered bag made of durable plastic with a colorful plaid pattern, usually used for carrying…”
The term “mommy market” is believed to refer to “markets usually run by women, first found in military camps and later also in youth service camps and educational institutions.”
In the gastronomy category, the dictionary includes “amala”, a staple food made from yam or cassava flour, defined as “a dough made from yam, cassava or unripe plantain flour, usually formed into balls and used as a garnish for other dishes” and “moi moi”, a dish of Yoruba origin that “consists of beans ground into a smooth paste, mixed with peppers, onions, dried…”
The Oxford English Dictionary adds 20 Nigerian words and expressions in its January 2025 update, highlighting the influence of Nigerian English, pidgin and street slang on the global vocabulary.
Additions include everyday terms such as japa, agbero, eba (a staple food made from cassava flour).
Other entries such as 419 (referring to Internet fraud) and abi (a common conversation tag) also made the list.
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