Number of headwords: over 300,000
Number of words and phrases covered: 640,000
Number of quotations: almost 2.5 million
Number of words of text: 60 million
Most-quoted male author: William Shakespeare
Most-quoted female author: George Eliot
Most-quoted work: the Bible
Most-quoted twentieth-century author: James Joyce
Longest word: ‘pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis’, a factitious word alleged to mean ‘a lung disease caused by the inhalation of very fine silica dust’ (but occurring chiefly as an instance of a very long word!)
Longest entry: the verb ‘set’ (60,000 words)
Shortest entry: ‘m. Var. MA’AM’
Letter containing the largest number of headwords: S
Letter containing the smallest number of headwords: X
For more facts and figures visit the OED Online site: Dictionary Facts