The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has expanded its lexicon with the addition of several Nigerian-origin words, underscoring the growing global influence of Nigeria’s language, culture, and cuisine.

The December 2025 update, released online on Wednesday, introduced more than 500 new words, phrases, and meanings, alongside revisions to over 1,000 existing entries. The update reflects the evolving nature of English worldwide, drawing from regional varieties including West African, Maltese, Japanese, and South Korean English.

Among the newly recognised Nigerian expressions are popular everyday terms and cultural references such as nyash, mammy market, amala, moi moi, abeg, biko, and Ghana Must Go.

The globally popular music genre Afrobeats was also added, defined by the OED as a style of popular music that blends elements of West African music with jazz, soul, and funk.

According to the dictionary, abeg is used as an interjection to convey emotions such as surprise, disbelief, or exasperation, while biko, derived from the Igbo language, functions as a polite request or emphasis meaning “please.” The word nyash refers to a person’s buttocks, particularly a woman’s.

The term Ghana Must Go describes the large, checkered plastic bags commonly used across West Africa, a name rooted in the 1983 expulsion of undocumented Ghanaian migrants from Nigeria. Mammy market is defined as a market, traditionally run by women, that originated in military barracks and later spread to youth service camps and educational institutions.

In the culinary category, amala is described as a dough made from yam, cassava, or unripe plantain flour, while moi moi is identified as a smooth, steamed bean paste dish mixed with peppers, onions, and other ingredients, with roots in Yoruba cuisine.

The latest update highlights the increasing recognition of Nigerian expressions and cultural elements within global English usage.