Yogalates, the trend of combining Pilates exercises with the postures and breathing techniques of Yoga, is among 1,200 new entries unveiled today in the latest edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).
As September marks the centenary of the birth of British author and screenwriter Roald Dahl, the edition also contains a range of revised and newly-drafted entries connected to Dahl and his writing.
“Revised entries in this range include those for words which many of us encountered for the first time in his books for children such as the adjectives frightsome, scrummy, scrumptious, splendiferous and splendiferousness,” said Jonathan Dent, senior assistant editor of the OED.
“This quarter’s update strays into other fictional worlds and beams down a new entry for the science-fiction sense of transporter (along with the fuller matter transporter and the abbreviated transmat),” he adds.
Other unusual entries include moobs, used to describe unusually prominent breasts on a man, typically as a result of excess fat, and gender-fluid, which refers to a person who doesn’t identify with a single fixed gender.
Further to a number of food-related terms — including the Malaysian or Indonesian dish, rendang — social media expressions have also made an appearance.
YOLO, an acronym meaning ‘you only live once’, has been included in the latest edition.
’Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ character Willy Wonka’s team of Oompa Loompa workers finds an entry for the first time as well as Westminster Bubble — the term used to describe an insular community of politicians, journalists, and civil servants, who appear to be out of touch with the experiences of the wider British public.
Michael Proffitt, the chief editor of the OED, said the latest update “confirms the OED as one of the largest and longest—running language research projects in the world.”