Some may think it is ridic but the evolution of language means that Scrabble has to keep up to stay dench – obvs. Lolz, shizzle and cakehole are among 6,500 new words added to the existing quarter of a million in the latest Collins Scrabble word list.
A host of slang words used on social media, in texts and on the street are now available to fans of the traditional word game seeking to outplay their opponents. These include obvs (obviously), ridic (ridiculous), lolz (laughs), shizzle (form of US rap slang), cakehole (mouth), and dench (excellent).
Other new words in the list reflect modern society, trends and events, such as twerking, devo (short for devolution, as in Devo Max), vape (to inhale from an electric cigarette), onesie, shootie (fashionable shoe that covers the ankle), cakeages (restaurant charges levied for serving cake brought in from outside), and podiumed (often used at sporting events, particularly the Olympics).
The new word list also recognises the role technology continues to play in our lives, with the addition of facetime, hashtag, tweep, and sexting. Onomatopoeic interjections listed in the dictionary are allowed in Scrabble and now players can add exclamations such as augh, blech, eew, grr, waah and yeesh to their game. Some of the highest-scoring new words are quinzhee (29 points – an Inuit snow shelter) and schvitz (24 points – to sweat).
Helen Newstead, head of language content at Collins, said: “Dictionaries have always included formal and informal English, but it used to be hard to find printed evidence of the use of slang words. “Now people use slang in social media posts, tweets, blogs, comments, text messages – you name it – so there’s a host of evidence for informal varieties of English that simply didn’t exist before.”
Collins Official Scrabble Words is compiled using the Collins Corpus – the world’s largest language database – and includes words from Australia, Canada, South Africa, the UK and the USA all brought together in a single list. This is the first update to the list since 2011.
Here are some of the new words featured in Collins Official Scrabble Words, including their meaning and how many points they score.
Slang words and modern society
Bezzy – best friend (18 points)
Cakeages – charges in a restaurant for serving cake brought in from outside (15 points)
Cakehole – mouth (17 points)
Dench – excellent (11 points)
Devo – short for devolution (8 points)
Geocache – search for hidden containers using GPS as a recreational activity (16 points)
Lolz – laughs at someone else's or one's own expense (13 points)
Lotsa - lots of (5 points)
Newb - newbie (9 points)
Obvs – obviously (9 points)
Onesie – one-piece garment combining a top with trousers (6 points)
Podiumed – past tense of podium, finish in the top three places in a sporting competition (14 points)
Ridic – ridiculous (8 points)
Shizzle – a form of US rap slang (18 points)
Shootie – type of shoe that covers the ankle (10 points)
Thanx – thank you (15 points)
Tuneage – music (8 points)
Twerking – type of dance involving rapid hip movement (16 points)
Vape - to inhale nicotine vapour (from an electronic cigarette) (9 points)
Wuz - non-standard spelling of was (15 points)
Technology and electronic communications
Facetime – talk with (someone) via the FaceTime application (15 points)
Hacktivist – person who hacks computer systems for political reasons (22 points)
Hashtag – a word or phrase preceded by a hashmark on Twitter, used to denote the topic of a post (14 points)
Sexting – practice of sending sexually explicit text messages (15 points)
Showrooming – practice of looking at an item in a shop, using a smartphone to compare its price elsewhere, then buying it online (20 points)
Tweep – person who uses Twitter (10 points)
Warbot – any robot or unmanned vehicle or device designed for and used in warfare (11 points)
Highest scoring and useful words
Cazh – casual (18 points)
Checkbox – small clickable box on a computer screen (28 points)
Cinq – number five (15 points)
Coqui – type of tree-dwelling frog (16 points)
Emoji – digital icon used in electronic communication (14 points)
Oxazole – type of liquid chemical compound (23 points)
Paczki – round filled doughnut (23 points)
Quinzhee – shelter made from hollowed-out snow (29 points)
Schvitz – to sweat (24 points)
Onomatopoeic interjections Augh – interjection expressing frustration (8 points)
Blech – interjection expressing disgust (12 points)
Eew – exclamation of disgust (6 points)
Grr – interjection expressing anger or annoyance (4 points)
Waah – interjection used to express wailing (10 points)
Yeesh – interjection used to express frustration (11 points)
– Press Association
