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In its most recent update, the Oxford English Dictionary includes a number of terms with Nigerian origins, demonstrating the country’s expanding influence on the world stage through its language, culture, and food.

More than 500 new words, phrases, and senses, including internet slang like “DM,” “brainfart,” and “chug,” are included in the December 2025 edition, which was posted on the OED website on Wednesday.

While editors investigated the origins of terms like “troll,” “coffee,” and “snooker,” more than 1,000 already-existing entries were also updated.

West African English, Maltese English, Japanese English, and South Korean English are among the English dialects from around the world that have been added to the update; OED editors have noted the increasing global influence of these Englishes.

Common phrases and food products from Nigeria are included, such as “nyash,” “mammy market,” “amala,” “moi moi,” “abeg,” “biko,” and “Ghana Must Go.”

“Afrobeats,” which is described as “a style of popular music incorporating elements of West African music and of jazz, soul, and funk,” was one of the updates.

According to the dictionary, “abeg” is an interjection that can be used to contextually convey a variety of emotions, including astonishment, frustration, and incredulity.

“Biko,” which comes from the Igbo language, is an interjection and adverb that is used in polite requests or agreements, or to add urgency or polite emphasis: “please.”

“A person’s (especially a woman’s) buttocks; the bottom, the backside” is the definition of “nyash.”

The well-known term “Ghana Must Go,” which dates back to the 1983 mass expulsion of undocumented Ghanaian migrants from Nigeria, is also included. It refers to the huge, checkered plastic bags that are commonly used in West Africa.

“A large, zippered bag made of durable plastic with a colorful check pattern, often used for carrying one’s” is how it is described.

The phrase “mammy market” was defined as “a market usually run by women, originally found in military barracks but later also in youth service camps and educational institutions.”

The dictionary listed “moi moi,” a Yoruba dish that “consists of beans ground into a smooth paste, mixed with peppers, onions, dried,” and “amala,” a staple dish made from yam or cassava flour that is described as “a kind of dough made of yam, cassava, or unripe plantain flour, typically formed into a ball and served as an accompaniment to other dishes.”

In a January 2025 update, the Oxford English Dictionary added 20 Nigerian words and expressions to its lexicon, emphasizing the impact of street slang, Pidgin, and Nigerian English on vocabulary worldwide.

Common words like japa, agbero, and eba—a staple dish derived from cassava flour—were included.

The list also included other entries like 419, which refers to online fraud, and abi, a frequent conversational term.

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