Oxford Dictionary Adds ‘Mammy Market’, ‘Amala’, Other Nigerian Words To Glossary

The Oxford English Dictionary has updated its glossary with some Nigerian-originated words, including “mammy market,” “nyash,” and “amala.”

The December 2025 update, released on the OED website on Wednesday, features more than 500 new words, phrases, and tenses.

The latest update reflects the growing global influence of the nation’s language, culture, and cuisine.

Other Nigerian-originated words added to its wordbook include “moi moi,” “abeg,” “biko,” and “Ghana Must Go.”

Internet slang such as “DM”, “brainfart” and “chug” were also included.

Over 1,000 existing entries were also revised, while editors explored the histories of words such as “troll”, “coffee”, and “snooker”.

The update includes additions from varieties of English used around the world, including West African English, Maltese English, Japanese English, and South Korean English, with OED editors noting the growing global influence of these Englishes.

The update included “Afrobeats”, defined as “a style of popular music incorporating elements of West African music and of jazz, soul, and funk.”

The dictionary describes “abeg” as an interjection used to express contextually a range of emotions, such as surprise, exasperation, and disbelief.

“Biko”, originally from the Igbo language, is defined as  an adverb and interjection used in polite request or agreement, or to add polite emphasis or urgency: ‘please’.”

“Nyash” is defined as “a person’s (esp. a woman’s) buttocks; the bottom, the backside.”

The latest addition also included “Ghana Must Go”, the popular name for the large, chequered plastic bags widely used in West Africa, whose expression traces back to the 1983 mass expulsion of undocumented Ghanaian migrants from Nigeria.

It is defined as “A large, zippered bag made of durable plastic with a colourful check pattern, often used for carrying one’s…”

The term “mammy market” was recognised as “a market typically run by women, originally found in military barracks but later also in youth service camps and educational institutions.”

In the category of cuisine, the dictionary included “amala”, a staple food made from yam or cassava flour, defined as “a kind of dough made of yam, cassava, or unripe plantain flour, typically formed into a ball and served as an accompaniment to other dishes” and “moi moi”, a dish originating among the Yoruba people, “consisting of beans ground into a smooth paste, mixed with peppers, onions, dried…”

 

In January 2025, the Oxford English Dictionary expanded its lexicon with 20 Nigerian words and expressions, highlighting the influence of Nigerian English, Pidgin, and street slang on global vocabulary.

The additions included everyday terms such as japa, agbero, eba, a staple food made from cassava flour.

Other entries, such as 419, referring to internet fraud, and abi, a common conversational tag, also made the list.