The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has once again tipped its hat to Nigerian culture, officially adding several popular Nigerian and West African words to its lexicon in its December 2025 update, now carrying into 2026. It’s another loud reminder that Nigerian street talk, food culture, and pop energy are no longer local slang — they’re global language assets.
The update was announced by the OED on X and features a rich collection of expressions tied to food, music, everyday conversation, markets, and pop culture. According to the dictionary, over 500 new words, phrases, and meanings were added in the December 2025 update alone, alongside revisions to more than 1,000 existing entries as part of its quarterly review process. Translation? English is evolving, and Africa is driving the momentum.
Catherine Sangster, author and Head of Pronunciations at the OED, described the update as a major milestone, particularly in how global pronunciations are captured. She explained that the dictionary has introduced a new transcription model for Maltese English — the nineteenth World English pronunciation model — while also expanding audio pronunciation features. As part of this effort, fresh pronunciations were recorded for several West African English entries, ensuring they reflect how people actually speak, not just how words look on paper.
Among the standout Nigerian additions is “abeg,” a word Nigerians deploy effortlessly to express emotions ranging from surprise and disbelief to frustration or pleading. The OED now officially recognises it as both an interjection and an adverb. Another cultural heavyweight is “amala,” defined as a Nigerian staple food made from yam, cassava, or unripe plantain flour, typically rolled into a dough and eaten with soup — a definition that barely captures its emotional importance in Nigerian homes.
Music also got its flowers. Afrobeats is now firmly established in the dictionary, described as a style of popular music blending West African sounds with jazz, soul, and funk — a genre that has moved from local stages to sold-out arenas worldwide.
Other Nigerian and West African expressions added include Ghana Must Go, biko, Mammy Market, nyash, and Moi Moi, words deeply rooted in everyday life across Nigeria and Ghana. These terms reflect shared histories, humour, food traditions, and social spaces familiar to millions.
Beyond Nigeria, the update also introduced African words such as abrokyire, Adowa, ampesi, benachin, bichir, domoda, dumboy, hiplife, kpanlogo, light soup, nawetan, obroni, poda-poda, and yassa, further reinforcing Africa’s growing linguistic footprint on global English.
This latest expansion builds on a similar update where the OED added 20 Nigerian words, including viral and street-level terms like japa, agbero, eba, 419, abi, area boy, yahoo boy, Naija, suya, kobo, jand, janded, and cross-carpeting — words tied to migration, food culture, politics, and internet slang.
Bottom line? Nigerian English is no longer “informal” or “local.” It’s documented, defined, and archived in one of the world’s most respected dictionaries. The culture spoke, the world listened, and Oxford wrote it down.