Merriam-Webster is “synchronic,” meaning it concentrates on current, active vocabulary. The OED is “diachronic,” written from a historical perspective. The two philosophies are complementary, not opposed, but that often means a word has to be in use longer to make the OED than it might take to get into M-W.

More than a dictionary, the OED is a comprehensive guide to current and historical word meanings in English. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is widely accepted as the most complete record of the English language ever assembled.

It's official: Rizz is the word of the year, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. What does it mean? Rizz is short for “charisma,” and it simply means an ability to charm and woo a person.

The oldest known dictionaries were cuneiform tablets with bilingual Sumerian–Akkadian wordlists, discovered in Ebla (modern Syria) and dated to roughly 2300 BCE, the time of the Akkadian Empire. The early 2nd millennium BCE Urra=hubullu glossary is the canonical Babylonian version of such bilingual Sumerian wordlists.