- Culture
- 26 Mar 25
The change comes with the dictionary's March update.
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has added Irish English words, including “spice bag,” “‘ludraman’” and “class.”
The newest update includes loan words from other languages, focusing on southeast Asia, South Africa and Ireland.
The OED defines ludraman as "a lazy, unproductive, or stupid person (especially a man),” and “class” as "a general term of approval: excellent, fantastic, great." "Spice bag" has been defined as "a takeaway meal usually sold from either Chinese food outlets or fish and chip shops,” followed by a full description of its contents.
The OED’s press release also cites the invention of the spice bag to Sunflower, a Chinese Takeaway in Dublin.
Advertisement
Other Irish English words that were added include “morto,” meaning mortified,“blaa,” the bread roll and “mineral,” the carbonated soft drink. This use of “mineral” goes back to 1893, and is also used in West African English.
The phrase “to act the maggot” and the word “debs” were also included, with "debs" being defined as "a formal social event held for students in their final year of secondary school.”
"The debs is an important rite of passage for Irish teenagers, who are careful not to act the maggot - behave foolishly - lest they end up feeling morto - extremely embarrassed," the OED said in their press release.