Oxford English Dictionary with Nigerian words highlighted in 2025 update.

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has added several Nigerian-origin words to its lexicon in its latest update, highlighting the growing global influence of Nigeria’s language, culture and everyday expressions.

The December 2025 update, released on the OED’s official website on Wednesday, introduced over 500 new words, phrases and meanings, alongside revisions to more than 1,000 existing entries.

According to OED editors, the update reflects the expanding influence of English varieties spoken across the world, including West African English, Maltese English, Japanese English and South Korean English.

Internet slang such as “DM,” “brainfart,” and “chug” also featured, while editors revisited the historical development of words like “troll,” “coffee,” and “snooker.”

Among the most notable additions, however, were commonly used Nigerian expressions and food names that have gained international recognition.

The newly added Nigerian entries include everyday slang, cultural terms and cuisine, such as:

Nyash – defined as a person’s buttocks, especially a woman’s.

Abeg – an interjection expressing emotions ranging from surprise to exasperation, disbelief or emphasis.

Biko – originally from the Igbo language, used as an adverb or interjection meaning “please”, often to add politeness or urgency.

Ghana Must Go – the popular name for the large chequered plastic bags widely used in West Africa, tracing its origin to the 1983 expulsion of undocumented Ghanaian migrants from Nigeria.

Mammy market – described as a market typically run by women, originally located in military barracks and later in NYSC camps and educational institutions.

Nigerian Cuisine Gains Recognition. Several Nigerian food items were also recognised:

Amala – defined as a dough made from yam, cassava or unripe plantain flour, typically served with soup.

Moi moi – a steamed bean pudding originating among the Yoruba people, made from ground beans mixed with peppers, onions and other ingredients.

The update also included Afrobeats, which the dictionary defines as “a style of popular music incorporating elements of West African music and of jazz, soul, and funk.”

This is not the first time Nigerian words have entered the OED. In a January 2025 update, the dictionary added 20 Nigerian words and expressions, further highlighting the global influence of Nigerian English, Pidgin and street slang.

Those earlier additions included terms such as japa, agbero, eba, abi, and 419, a reference to internet fraud derived from Nigeria’s criminal code.

Linguists say the steady inclusion of Nigerian expressions reflects how Nigerian culture, migration, music and digital conversations are shaping modern English worldwide.

With millions of Nigerians actively influencing global pop culture, social media and entertainment, experts believe more Nigerian words are likely to enter mainstream English in the coming years.