4 Roald Dahl's words added to the dictionary to celebrate his 100th anniversary

To celebrate Roald Dahl's 100th birthday anniversary, the Oxford English Dictionary has added new words and phrases made famous by Dahl - including ‘Oompa Lumpa' and ‘witching hour’ - to their latest edition.

Michael Proffitt, chief editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, told Independent UK: “The inclusion in OED of a number of words coined by or associated with Roald Dahl reflects both his influence as an author and his vivid and distinctive style.

“For many children Roald Dahl’s work is not only one of their first experiences of reading, but also their earliest exposure to the creative power of language.”

Dahl author of so many beautifully written children’s books including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, and Matilda is known for playing with sounds and bending linguistic principles to create new words.

Here are some of the newly added words as seen on Independent UK

Oompa Loompa

Originally from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Oompa Loompa’s were Willy Wonka’s workers who became associated with being orange and wearing dungarees thanks to Gene Wilder’s 1971 film adaptation.

Dahlesque

Implying something resembles or has the characteristics of Dahl’s work, “typically characterised by eccentric plots, villainous or loathsome adult characters, and gruesome or black humour.”

Human bean

A mispronunciation of ‘human being’ used by the Big Friendly Giant in The BFG. However, the first use of the ‘human bean’ dates back to British satirical magazine Punch, who used the phrase in 1842.

Scrumdiddlyumptious

Originally found in The American Thesaurus of Slang in 1942, ‘scrumdiddlyumptious’ became a household word following the release of The BFG.

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