OED

Writing & Everyday abbreviation · Grammar and Dictionary

OED
Stands forOxford English Dictionary
CategoriesWriting & Everyday

OED stands for Oxford English Dictionary, a grammar and dictionary abbreviation.

The most comprehensive historical dictionary of English, published by Oxford University Press and covering some 500,000 words, senses and phrases with dated quotations. Scholars, writers and lexicographers cite it as the standard authority on word history.

Example: The OED dates the earliest known use of "selfie" to a 2002 post on an Australian online forum.

Usage notes

Work began in 1857 under the Philological Society, and the first edition appeared in installments between 1884 and 1928, with James Murray as its best-known editor. The second edition (1989) filled 20 volumes, and the third edition is being revised online. Citations usually take the form OED, s.v. "word."

More grammar and dictionary abbreviations

  • nom. – Nominative
  • NP – Noun phrase
  • obj. – Object
  • obs. – Obsolete
  • occas. – Occasionally
  • OE – Old English
  • OF – Old French
  • ON – Old Norse
  • orig. – Originally
  • part. – Participle
  • pass. – Passive
  • PIE – Proto-Indo-European

See all 93 grammar and dictionary abbreviations →

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