The Oxford English Dictionary

The Oxford English Dictionary is the accepted authority on the history and meaning of English words

A brief history

• First Edition: originally published in sections (called ‘fascicles’), 1884-1928.
• One-volume supplement, 1933
• Four-volume supplement, 1972-1986
• Second Edition: consisting of the First Edition, the four-volume supplement, and 5,000 new entries, 1989
• Three volumes of Additions (9,000 new entries and senses), 1993-1997
• CD-Rom versions, 1992 and 1999 (the latter incorporating the revised material from Additions)
• Third Edition: OED Online, launched March 2000, incorporating all the revision material produced since 1990, and 1,000 new and revised entries from M; updates of at least 1,000 entries to be added quarterly

See a more detailed chronology on the OED web site: Dictionary milestones

Find out more about the size and coverage of the Dictionary from our list of Dictionary Facts and Figures.

Read about the Professor and the Madman who helped create the Dictionary, and the other Oxford Word Searchers who spent their time hunting for clues to the language, or read an article from the prologue to Simon Winchester's history of the creation of the OED, The Meaning of Everything.

Join the hundreds of people who are still searching today as your language needs you.