Non-English Words? Oxford English Dictionary's latest additions are from THESE languages

The Oxford English Dictionary is expanding its horizon!
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has added a list of "untranslatable" words, or those that do not have English equivalents. Gigil, Alamak are a couple of them.

This is the first time the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has officially added new words from languages around the world. The creators of the OED acknowledge that these terms have become commonly used in English.
In its latest statement, the OED said, highlighting the need for such linguistic borrowings, “Wouldn’t it be useful for English speakers to have a specific word for sunlight dappling through leaves…Or a word for the action of sitting outside enjoying a beer?”.

What are the new words from other languages that have been added to the OED?
Here is a list.

The latest OED update features several words from South Africa, including the expressive exclamation ‘Yoh!’.
What is ‘Yoh’?
Described as an “imitative utterance,” Yoh! is a cry used to convey a range of emotions, from surprise and wonder to admiration, shock, or distress, said OED executive editor Danica Salazar.
Another South African addition is ‘sharp-sharp’, a versatile term with multiple meanings.
First recorded in 1991, ‘sharp-sharp’ is commonly used as a casual way to say hello or goodbye. More recently, since around 2018, the phrase has also been used to compliment someone’s style or to describe something as excellent or impressive.


The majority of newly-added words to the OED are from Singapore and Malaysia, which are names of dishes, a testament to the nations' obsessions with food.
While contributing to the OED with words like ‘alamak’, an exclamation used to express surprise, shock, dismay, or outrage, several beloved Southeast Asian foods have also been part of the latest addition to the OED.
These include ‘ketupat’, a small rice cake wrapped and boiled in woven palm leaves; ‘otak-otak’, a dish made of ground fish or seafood mixed with spices and coconut milk; and nasi lemak, a fragrant Malay rice dish cooked in coconut milk and pandan leaf.
Then there is ‘kaya toast’, a well-loved breakfast dish consisting of toasted bread spread with kaya—a jam made from coconut milk, eggs, sugar, and pandan leaves.


Perhaps the one Filipino word/expression gaining the most popularity amongst the new additions is gigil! Pronounced ghee-gill, gigil translates to the "feeling so intense that it gives us the irresistible urge to tightly clench our hands, grit our teeth, and pinch or squeeze whomever or whatever it is we find so adorable". As per psychologists, gigil, taken from the Philippines' Tagalog language, precisely describes ‘cute aggression’— a feeling so intense that it gives us the irresistible urge to tightly clench our hands, grit our teeth, and pinch or squeeze whomever or whatever it is we find so adorable.
Among the other Philippine English entries is ’lumpia’, a type of spring roll popular across East and Southeast Asia. These rolls, filled with minced meat, seafood, or vegetables, are sometimes deep-fried and typically served with dipping sauce.
Other Filipino terms joining the dictionary include ‘videoke’—the localised version of karaoke, which features a scoring system—and salakot, a lightweight, wide-brimmed hat often worn by farmers.
The OED has also recognised unique Philippine uses of English words, such as ’terror’, which is sometimes used to describe a particularly strict or demanding teacher.


Several popular Mandarin-influenced dishes have also been added to the OED. Such as the ‘fish head curry’, a fusion dish blending Chinese and South Indian influences, where a fish head is simmered in a tamarind-based curry, and steamboat, a communal dining experience where thinly sliced meat and vegetables are cooked in a simmering broth at the table.


The Oxford English Dictionary, which contains more than 600,000 words, making it one of the most comprehensive dictionaries in the English-speaking world, recognizes that many of these additions are “untranslatable words”—terms without direct English equivalents—that have been adopted by speakers to fill a gap in the language.
People who speak English alongside other languages fill lexical gaps by "borrowing the untranslatable word from another language". Danica Salazar, OED executive editor, told The Independent, “Sometimes, they do this with enough frequency that the borrowed word eventually becomes part of the vocabulary of their variety of English.”
The editors of the OED consider thousands of new word suggestions each year. These come from a variety of sources, including its editors' own reading, crowdsourcing appeals, and analysis of language databases.
These new words come from diverse regions, including Southeast Asia, South Africa, and Ireland, reflecting the global nature of language evolution. Moving forward, these terms will be featured in OED’s latest editions, as the dictionary continues to grow and adapt to cultures around the world.