Oxford English Dictionary

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is the preeminent dictionary of the English language. It includes authoritative definitions, history, and pronunciations of over 600,000 words from across the English-speaking world. Each word’s entry includes etymologies and quotations illustrating the word’s meanings and uses over time. OED includes over 3 million quotations total from English-language literary, scientific, historic, and popular sources, including books, scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers, films, and more. The OED thus allows you to see how a word has developed over time.

This database is the electronic counterpart and continuation of the print publication Oxford English Dictionary. The database is updated quarterly with new words and revisions to existing entries, making it an expansion and improvement to the print original.