My English-speaking is rooted in a Nigerian experience and not in a British or American or Australian one. I have taken ownership of English.

This is how award-winning author and activist, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie describes her relationship with the English language. The renowned author and the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) have teamed up to create a list of terms used in colloquial Nigerian speech that have made a ‘unique and distinctive contribution to English as a global language’.

A total of 28 new words have been added to the English lexicon from the vast Nigerian English, drawing from a wide range of unique coinages like ‘buka’ and ‘mama put’ to the shortening of English words like ‘guba’ (gubernatorial) to borrowing from native languages such as Yoruba word ‘tokunbo’ (second hand) and to words crossing over from pidgin English such as ‘sef’.

The words included in this month’s update of the OED reflect the contributions Nigeria has made as a country in the global economy, and it is a step in the right to cement Nigeria’s standing as an international hub in West Africa.

Check out the new words here:

Too lazy to click link? Here are the words. pic.twitter.com/M5SqKNkS2z

— Adeniyi Adeoye (@Nero_Naija) January 21, 2020

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