Dictionaries

Geek Out

The Woot On Cougars, Blouses And Other English Words In The Last 100 Years

1:00AM August 24, 2011 | Angus Stevenson

Last week, the new edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary included words like sexting, retweet and mankini for the first time. This article explains the many weird changes that the dictionary went through since its first edition in 1911. More »

Geek Out

These Are The New Words In The Oxford English Dictionary

6:00AM August 19, 2011 | Jesus Diaz

O Scholars of the English Oxford Dictionary, thank ye for blessing the words sexting and retweet and jeggings and mankini and cyberbullying on thy sacred book’s pages, for now we would be able to feast upon them freely and properly. More »

Software

Official Merriam-Webster Dictionary App Arrives On Android

11:00AM July 5, 2011 | David Galloway

Android: Globally respected dictionary Merriam-Webster recently launched its eponymous dictionary on Android devices, joining its already available iPhone and iPad apps. More »

Software

Dictionary iPad App Lets You Serendipitously Stumble On Words

8:44AM May 26, 2011 | Adrian Covert

You can chuck that Merriam-Webster dictionary that’s sitting on your desk out the window (along with all your magazines). It’s been iPad-ised and it looks beautiful. Also, it’s free. More »

Gaming

Now You Can Win Scrabble With The Word ‘Grrl’

5:40PM May 13, 2011 | Kelly Hodgkins

Next time you play Scrabble, grab the official Collins Dictionary so you can outmanoeuvre your friends with words like “webzine”, “darknet” and “grrl”. Be prepared, though, as those non-techies across from you may win with the dreaded “Facebook”. More »

News

Oxford English Dictionary Hearts <3 As First Purely Symbolic Word

8:20AM March 25, 2011 | Brian Barrett

The stuffy old OED—the last word in what is and is not the English language – has decreed that <3 is a word. Or rather, the vertical version of that. It’s the first time a symbol has been included as a word. Death of the English language? Natural lexicographic evolution? Just a way to screw with QWERTY keyboard makers? All of the above, probably. And it’s not alone. More »

Software

Apple (Dictionary) Thinks Ballmer Is Baloney

1:00PM November 12, 2010 | Jesus Diaz

If you are using an iOS device, open any text window and write Ballmer. Unless you have someone named Ballmer in your address book, you are just going to get this from the autocorrection engine: Baloney. More »

Online

Let’s Hope The Print Oxford English Dictionary Really Dies

2:20AM August 31, 2010 | Jesus Diaz

“Falling away by tens per cent a year,” the print dictionary market “is just disappearing”. That’s what Oxford University Press CEO Nigel Portwood says. And that’s exactly why the third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary may be online only. More »

Gadgets

This Digital Dictionary Reads All Those Abstruse Words For Me

2:40AM December 30, 2009 | Brian Barrett

Unichal’s Dixau DX3 digital dictionary saves you all that trouble of typing out words you don’t understand. Instead, it takes a picture of the offending verbiage with a pop-up digital camera and automatically translates it. How efficacious! More »

Geek Out

“Unfriend” Declared Word Of The Year

3:36AM November 19, 2009 | Brian Lam

The New Oxford American Dictionary declared “Unfriend” the word of the year. It beat out hashtag, netbook and sexting, among other nominated words. More »