US Edition'Alamak', 'kaya' and 'tapau' among words added to Oxford English Dictionary
- On Wednesday, March 26, 2025, the Oxford English Dictionary released its latest update, adding several everyday expressions from Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines to its ever-expanding collection of over 600,000 words.
- These additions reflect the influence of various cultures and languages, as the OED editors consider thousands of new word suggestions each year from sources including their own reading, crowdsourcing appeals, and analysis of language databases, aiming to fill lexical gaps and expand the vocabularies of different forms of English.
- Among the new entries are Tagalog's 'gigil,' defined as the irresistible urge to pinch or squeeze something adorable, and Malay's 'alamak,' a colloquial exclamation expressing surprise or outrage, alongside Philippine words like 'videoke' and 'salakot'.
- The update also included several food-related terms from Singapore and Malaysia, such as 'kaya toast' , 'nasi lemak' , 'fish head curry', 'steamboat', 'ketupat', 'otak-otak', and 'tapau' .
- The inclusion of these 'untranslatable words' demonstrates how English speakers borrow from other languages to fill lexical gaps, ultimately enriching the English vocabulary, as exemplified by other new entries like South Africa's 'yoh!' and 'mat rempit'.
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Cuteness aggression! 'Gigil' among newly added Filipino words in Oxford dictionary
MANILA, Philippines – Have you ever come across something irresistibly cute and suddenly felt a rush of emotions that words like “excitement” just can’t seem to capture? There’s actually a Filipino word for that: gigil, which just made its official entry to the renowned Oxford English Dictionary (OED). The OED defines gigil asis a noun that pertains to the intense feeling caused by anger, eagerness, or the pleasure of seeing something cute or a…
·Philippines
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