Don’t know zyzzyva? Then turn to the OED
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EATING a tasty meal with chana dal or doenjang washed down with a gin daisy could well foster a nice feeling of hygge. Just hope you don’t find any zyzzyva on your plate.
If you need to look up any of those words, the unofficial custodian of the English language now has the answers.
In its latest update, the Oxford English Dictionary identified over 600 words, phrases and senses that have entered common parlance.
They include zyzzyva, a genus of tropical weevils native to South America. The word replaces zythum — an ancient Egyptian malt beer — as the OED’s final entry.
The name was apparently coined by the American entomologist Thomas Lincoln Casey, who described it in a 1922 work, the OED said.
The quarterly update includes “post-truth,” previously announced by the OED as its word of the year for 2016 following Britain’s Brexit referendum and Donald Trump’s presidential victory. “Brexit” itself also made into the dictionary last year.
Further additions to the English lexicon are chana dal, the Hindi phrase for chickpeas, and doenjang, a paste made from fermented soya beans used in Korean cookery.
A gin daisy is a cocktail made with gin, lemon juice and (usually) grenadine.
Drink enough gin daisies and you may well be overcome by hygge, the Danish term for “a quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being.”
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