‘Ambigram’ Added to Dictionary!

Oxford Dictionary

On March 24th, 2011 the word “ambigram” was finally added to the Oxford English Dictionary: The Definitive Record of the English Language!

Congratulations to everyone on this site for playing a part (however big or small) in making that happen.

If you look at the list of words being added to the OED, you will see that the word “ambigram” is being inducted along with some other overdue classics like “stonewash” and “rubberization”, so it is in very good company.

So, how do these new words get “discovered”?  Well, it seems that a lot of them are sent in by mail (you know, the kind delivered on paper) to the OED offices.  In the YouTube video about Oxford Dictionary’s word selection process for the dictionary, you can see that they have a stack of suggestions for the dictionary in an “inbox” on a desk in one scene.  Then the OED editors evaluate if the word has enough mainstream clout to make the cut.

Apparently, the word “ambigram” is in widespread use enough to convince the editors that it is time that the word was added to the dictionary.

A special shout-out is in order to Dougles Hofstadter who originally coined the term “ambigram” back in the 1980s.  How many people can say that they coined a word that later made it into the dictionary!

Of course, what that also means is that this site is now a “generic domain” web site, following the “[dictionary word].com” pattern.

We’re also proud to be the first site on the internet to let you know the big news that the word “ambigram” is now officially recognized.