What is Dictionary ?

IT TOOK ALMOST 50 YEARS TO CREATE THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY.

The two most common words in English are I and you.

In 1857, the Philological Society of London first called for a comprehensive English language dictionary, including words from the 12th century to the present.

11% of the entire English language is just the letter E.

In 1879, the Philological Society joined forces with Oxford University Press, and work commenced. In 1884, Oxford University Press published the first part of the dictionary (A to Ant), and the final volume was published in 1928.

The English language is said to be one of the happiest languages in the world – oh, and the word ‘happy’ is used 3 times more often than the word ‘sad’!

Called A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, the dictionary listed more than 400,000 words and phrases. Today, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is one of the most respected and widely used dictionaries.

1/4 of the world’s population speaks at least some English.

J.R.R. TOLKIEN RESEARCHED WORD ETYMOLOGIES FOR THE OED.

The US doesn’t have an official language.

After serving in World War I, J.R.R. Tolkien worked as an editor's assistant on the OED. His job was to research the etymologies of certain words that started with the letter w.

Tolkien also composed multiple drafts of definitions for words such as waggle, walnut, walrus, and waistcoat. After his time at the OED, Tolkien went on to work as an English professor and write The Lord of the Rings.

It is the only major language that doesn’t have any organization guiding it – as opposed to the French Académie française, the Spanish Real Academia Española and the German Rat für deutsche Rechtschreibung.

Subsequently, the OED has added terms that Tolkien himself coined, such as hobbit, mithril, and mathom.

These organizations are responsible for controlling the evolution of their respective language in terms of usage, vocabulary, and grammar.

SOMETIMES FAKE WORDS MAKE THEIR WAY INTO THE DICTIONARY.

The most common adjective used in English is ‘good’.

Due to human error, a handful of fake words have appeared in dictionaries over the centuries. Some words, like phantomnation, which appeared in an 1864 edition of Webster's, are the result of missing hyphens. Others are typographical errors.

The most commonly used noun is ‘time’.

A 1934 edition of Webster’s New International Dictionary defined dord as density, the result of confusion over spacing. Some dictionary editors have even intentionally included fake words, such as esquivalience in The New Oxford American Dictionary, to protect their copyright.

The word ‘set’ has the highest number of definitions.

THE OED NEEDS YOUR HELP.

Although many scholars consider the OED to be the definitive authority on dictionaries, the OED needs your help.

Month, orange, silver, and purple do not rhyme with any other word.

The English language contains a lot of contronyms – words that can have contradictory meanings depending on context.