Why is a zoologist interested in banjos? When is a brag humble? And what are horse doovers anyway? Join lexicographers Fiona McPherson and Craig Leyland to learn about the June 2026 update of the OED, and hear from fellow editor Mike Timpany on life as part of the OED’s science group.

(Apologies for the variable sound quality in this one; at least it's proof that this is made by dictionary writers, not podcast professionals!)

This is the last episode of our first season, so we're having a little break to catch up on our real work; that dictionary isn't going to write itself, after all. We'll return with a bunch of new episodes in six weeks, when we'll probably be talking about (among other things) the language of cinema, and notable correspondence in the OED's archives. We hope very much that you'll join us again then.

www.oed.com

www.oed.com/information/updates/june-2026/

lexipoddery@oup.com

Music by Matt Cutmore

Glossary

Antedating: an occurrence of a word, phrase, or sense, which predates the earliest use previously known or recorded.

Collocation: the habitual juxtaposition or association of a particular word with other particular words; a group of words so associated.

Compound: two or more words put together to make a new word or phrase (like hot sauce, nutcracker, or Greenwich Mean Time).

Entry: a section of a dictionary devoted to a particular word, starting with the headword and including the etymology, pronunciation, senses, compounds, etc.

Etymology: the origin and historical development of a word; the process of investigating this.

Headword: the word you look up, at the start of the entry; the word that is being defined.

Homonym: for OED purposes, homonyms are words that share the same spelling and part of speech, but have different etymological origins, and are therefore separate entries with their own homonym numbers (e.g. dog n.1 – the animal – and dog. n.2 – a euphemistic alteration of ‘god’). More broadly though, homonyms are words that have different meanings and origins but are either spelled the same (homographs) or sound the same (homophones).

Isogloss: the boundary of an area of local concentration or dominance of a significant linguistic feature, e.g. pronunciation.

Label: OED adds labels to words, when useful for readers, to give information on region (e.g. South African), subject (e.g. U.S. history), register (e.g. slang), usage (e.g. derogatory), and status (e.g. obsolete).

Lexicography: the art/science/craft of writing dictionaries. A lexicographer is a writer of dictionaries. (“A harmless drudge that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the signification of words,” according to Samuel Johnson. Fair enough, he should know.)

Obsolete: describing a word as no longer in use. (For OED’s purposes, that means we haven’t found any evidence of it after 1930.)

Poddery: podcasting? We thought it sounded fun. It's not in OED...yet.

Sense: any of the various distinct meanings of a particular word.

Small-type note: text (in small type!) that sits under the main definition, where we can add extra, useful information that doesn’t fit in the main definition itself.

Update: a new version of OED, including new and revised entries, as published four times a year on oed.com. Also called a release.

Why do tense moments lead to squeaky bums? What wizardry lies in the magic sponge? Who would want to hit an onion bag? Join Oxford English Dictionary lexicographers Craig Leyland and Fiona McPherson to celebrate the start of the football World Cup with a perusal of OED entries relating to the beautiful game.

Come back for another episode in three weeks (July 1st), when we’ll be looking at some of the particularly interesting new and revised material in the OED’s June 2026 update.

www.oed.com

www.oed.com/thesaurus

lexipoddery@oup.com

Music by Matt Cutmore

Glossary

Antedating: an occurrence of a word, phrase, or sense, which predates the earliest use previously known or recorded.

Collocation: the habitual juxtaposition or association of a particular word with other particular words; a group of words so associated.

Compound: two or more words put together to make a new word or phrase (like hot sauce, nutcracker, or Greenwich Mean Time).

Entry: a section of a dictionary devoted to a particular word, starting with the headword and including the etymology, pronunciation, senses, compounds, etc.

Etymology: the origin and historical development of a word; the process of investigating this.

Headword: the word you look up, at the start of the entry; the word that is being defined.

Homonym: for OED purposes, homonyms are words that share the same spelling and part of speech, but have different etymological origins, and are therefore separate entries with their own homonym numbers (e.g. dog n.1 – the animal – and dog. n.2 – a euphemistic alteration of ‘god’). More broadly though, homonyms are words that have different meanings and origins but are either spelled the same (homographs) or sound the same (homophones).

Isogloss: the boundary of an area of local concentration or dominance of a significant linguistic feature, e.g. pronunciation.

Label: OED adds labels to words, when useful for readers, to give information on region (e.g. South African), subject (e.g. U.S. history), register (e.g. slang), usage (e.g. derogatory), and status (e.g. obsolete).

Lexicography: the art/science/craft of writing dictionaries. A lexicographer is a writer of dictionaries. (“A harmless drudge that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the signification of words,” according to Samuel Johnson. Fair enough, he should know.)

Obsolete: describing a word as no longer in use. (For OED’s purposes, that means we haven’t found any evidence of it after 1930.)

Poddery: podcasting? We thought it sounded fun. It's not in OED...yet.

Sense: any of the various distinct meanings of a particular word.

Small-type note: text (in small type!) that sits under the main definition, where we can add extra, useful information that doesn’t fit in the main definition itself.

Update: a new version of OED, including new and revised entries, as published four times a year on oed.com. Also called a release.

Which word did we get from a hen in fine clothes? Who made a mullet into a red herring? What’s a rapper’s favourite dairy foodstuff? Join lexicographers Fiona McPherson and Craig Leyland to learn about the influence of song lyrics on the OED, and the importance of bibliography for a historical dictionary.

Come back for another episode in two weeks (June 10th), when we’ll be getting ready for the World Cup by looking at football (soccer) words and phrases in the OED.

www.oed.com

lexipoddery@oup.com

https://therightrhymes.com/

Music by Matt Cutmore

Glossary

Antedating: an occurrence of a word, phrase, or sense, which predates the earliest use previously known or recorded.

Collocation: the habitual juxtaposition or association of a particular word with other particular words; a group of words so associated.

Compound: two or more words put together to make a new word or phrase (like hot sauce, nutcracker, or Greenwich Mean Time).

Entry: a section of a dictionary devoted to a particular word, starting with the headword and including the etymology, pronunciation, senses, compounds, etc.

Etymology: the origin and historical development of a word; the process of investigating this.

Headword: the word you look up, at the start of the entry; the word that is being defined.

Homonym: for OED purposes, homonyms are words that share the same spelling and part of speech, but have different etymological origins, and are therefore separate entries with their own homonym numbers (e.g. dog n.1 – the animal – and dog. n.2 – a euphemistic alteration of ‘god’). More broadly though, homonyms are words that have different meanings and origins but are either spelled the same (homographs) or sound the same (homophones).

Isogloss: the boundary of an area of local concentration or dominance of a significant linguistic feature, e.g. pronunciation.

Label: OED adds labels to words, when useful for readers, to give information on region (e.g. South African), subject (e.g. U.S. history), register (e.g. slang), usage (e.g. derogatory), and status (e.g. obsolete).

Lexicography: the art/science/craft of writing dictionaries. A lexicographer is a writer of dictionaries. (“A harmless drudge that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the signification of words,” according to Samuel Johnson. Fair enough, he should know.)

Obsolete: describing a word as no longer in use. (For OED’s purposes, that means we haven’t found any evidence of it after 1930.)

Poddery: podcasting? We thought it sounded fun. It's not in OED...yet.

Sense: any of the various distinct meanings of a particular word.

Small-type note: text (in small type!) that sits under the main definition, where we can add extra, useful information that doesn’t fit in the main definition itself.

Update: a new version of OED, including new and revised entries, as published four times a year on oed.com. Also called a release.