Oxford Dictionaries Online adds 'squee,' 'selfie,' 'twerk'

OXFORD, England, Aug. 28 (UPI) -- Britain's Oxford University Press announced additions to its online dictionary include "squee," "selfie," "buzzworthy" and "twerk."

The university press said the latest quarterly update to its free Oxford Dictionaries Online includes dozens of words, such as "squee," an exclamation expressing "great delight or excitement"; "selfie," defined as "a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website"; "buzzworthy," an adjective used to describe something "likely to arouse the interest and attention of the public, either by media coverage or word of mouth" and "twerk," which means to "dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance."

"New words, senses, and phrases are added to Oxford Dictionaries Online when we have gathered enough independent evidence from a range of sources to be confident that they have widespread currency in English," Angus Stevenson of Oxford Dictionaries Online said. "Publishing online allows us to make the results of our research available more quickly than ever before.... On average, we add approximately 1,000 new entries to Oxford Dictionaries Online every year, and this quarter's update highlights some fascinating developments in the English language."