6,500 New Words Added To Scrabble

Among the words added include lolz, shizzle, emoji, sexting, and hashtag.

15:38 22 May 2015

 

Scrabble official dictionary has been updated for the first time in four years adding 6,500 new words. 

 

Britain’s most popular game now includes words that are typically used in social media such as lolz, shizzle, emoji, sexting, and hashtag. 

 

Collins dictionary’s Helen Newstead said that the internet has revolutionised the game. 

 

“Dictionaries have always included formal and informal English, but it used to be hard to find printed evidence of the use of slang words.

 

“Now people use slang in social media posts, tweets, blogs, comments, text messages - you name it - so there’s a host of evidence for informal varieties of English that simply didn’t exist before.”

 

It is believed that the move to add the words is to keep Scrabble ahead of online competitors. 

 

Former British champ Allan Simmons, now a consultant on the official Scrabble word list, said: “This new update brings the renowned word list bang up-to-date with current usage, embracing all genres of words for young and old alike.”