Time called on Egyptian beer having last word in Oxford English Dictionary

The Oxford English Dictionary has a new "last word" with tropical weevil zyzzyva bringing up the rear in the latest edition.
Tropical weevil: zyzzyvaTropical weevil: zyzzyva
Tropical weevil: zyzzyva

Zyzzyva, a genus native to South America, takes the title from zythum, an ancient Egyptian malt beer.

It is among a variety of new words to be added, which also include hygge, a Danish term described as "a quality of cosiness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being".

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

While other words have been given new definitions, including "woke" which is used as an adjective to mean "alert to racial or social discrimination and injustice", and "thing" when used to express disbelief, as in "How can that be a thing?"

Also among the tranche of new words are 50 new terms relating to tennis, such as forced error, chip and charge and career slam.

Tennis mom and tennis dad - terms to describe parents who encourage their children to play the sport - have also been added to the book which contains 829,000 words.

Speaking about how a word qualifies for inclusion, the OED said: "(We) require several independent examples of the word being used, and also evidence that the word has been in use for a reasonable amount of time."