Oxford Dictionary adds ‘untranslatable’ words from Ireland, Philippines and Malaysia

New words from around the world have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) for the first time as its creators say their usage has become so commonplace in the language.

These are several ‘untranslatable words’ the OED says have been imported into the English language by speakers to fill a ‘lexical gap.’

“Sometimes, they do this with enough frequency that the borrowed word eventually becomes part of the vocabulary of their variety of English,” Danica Salazar, OED executive editor said.

These words come from several different continents, with additions from Southeast Asia, South Africa, and Ireland. New dictionaries from OED will feature these words going forward, as the literary resource continues to expand.

Here are just a few of the new words that have made the cut:

Many native English speakers likely know and use the word ‘class’ as a general term of approval. The use of the word as an adjective only dates back to 1981, the OED finds, originating in Ireland.

Ms Salazar said: “‘Class’ is how main character Erin describes her hometown of Derry, Northern Ireland in an episode of the first season of the popular sitcom Derry Girls.”

Several other words from Ireland have also made the list, including ‘spice bag’.

“This is a takeaway meal typically consisting of chips, shredded deep-fried chicken, fried onions, red and green peppers, chilli peppers, and jalapeño peppers, tossed together in a bag with various spices and often served with curry sauce for dipping,” the OED said.

The delicacy was invented in a Chinese takeaway restaurant in Dublin called Sunflower around 2006. Appropriately, the first quotation in the OED for the entry was a social media post from 2012 of someone considering a trip to the venue to get one.

A few words from South Africa have also appeared in the update, such as the imitative utterance ‘Yoh’. This word is a “cry or exclamation” which is used to express various emotions or reactions, such as surprise, wonder, admiration, shock, or distress,” Ms Salazar said.

Another new word from South Africa includes ‘sharp-sharp’, which has a couple of different meanings. The first is using it as a casual way to say hello or goodbye, with this usage tracing back to 1991.

The second is to use it as a way to compliment someone’s style or just to comment on how generally excellent or fantastic they are, which has been in use since around 2018.

‘Gigil’ is one of the most well-known ‘untranslatable words’ used in the Phillipines to describe a very specific feeling, Ms Salazar said.

It describes the intense feeling a person gets when they see something cute and get the “irresistible urge to tightly clench our hands, grit our teeth, and pinch or squeeze [it]”.

The dictionary publisher described Gigil as a “pithy name for such a strange, paradoxical emotion.” It can be used as both a noun, or an adjective to describe a person experiencing it.

Another Philippine English entry includes ‘lumpia’, the name of any of various types of East and Southeast Asian spring rolls. These typically consist of a “very thin pancake filled with minced meat, seafood, or vegetables, rolled into a cylinder, sometimes deep-fried, and served with a dipping sauce.”

The final countries with words which made the list are Malaysia and Singapore. One of these is ‘alamak’, an exclamation that is used to convey surprise, shock, dismay, or outrage.

Several foods from the two countries also make the list, including ‘ketupat’, a small rice cake boiled in a pouch of woven palm leaves. There is also ‘Otak-otak’, a Southeast Asian dish consisting of ground fish or other seafood mixed with spices and coconut milk, and ‘Nasi lemak’, a Malay dish of rice cooked in coconut milk and flavoured with pandan leaf.

Source: independent.co.uk