OED adds print run to reflect spread of virus vocabulary

THE Oxford English Dictionary has broken with convention and added an extra print run to reflect the “exponential rise” in pandemic-related terms, such as self-isolation and Covid-19.

The dictionary, which typically publishes quarterly, plans to make a “significant update” to reflect a host of new terms that have passed into usage due to the outbreak.

They include words that, by now, most of the population will be wearily familiar with − social distancing, flatten the curve and personal protective equipment (PPE).

In a nod to the shifting work patterns brought about by the coronavirus crisis, the OED has also brought in acronyms such as WFH − working from home.

It has similarly defined terms that have been coined to reflect quirks of the pandemic, such as infodemic, defined as “a proliferation of diverse, often unsubstantiated information relating to a crisis, controversy, or event, which disseminates rapidly”.

Self-isolation, meanwhile, is described as: “The action, fact, or process of deliberately isolating oneself; an instance of this. Now esp.: self-imposed isolation undertaken in order to avoid catching or transmitting an infectious disease, or as part of a community initiative to inhibit its spread.”

Fiona Mcpherson, an editorial manager at the OED, said: “This is a significant update for the OED, and something of a departure, coming as it does outside our usual quarterly publication cycle. But these are extraordinary times, and OED lexicographers are in a unique position to track the development of the language we are using and to present the histories of these words.”

She said Covid-19 was “surprisingly” the only neologism, or newly coined word, to appear.

Coronavirus was first described in 1968 and included in the OED in 2008.