Cracking the police code: 11 Line of Duty acronyms explained

25th Mar 2021

BBC’s Line of Duty is back after a two-year hiatus and we couldn’t be more excited to resume our role of armchair detective. But for civilians, deciphering all the police jargon can be pretty difficult. When you’re busy nicking bent coppers, you don’t have time to waste on trivial things… Read More

Spanish word of the week: hogar

24th Mar 2021

This week’s Spanish word of the week is 'hogar'. 'Hogar' is a noun that means 'home' Read More

Lockdownversary

23rd Mar 2021

The twenty-third of March marks the anniversary of the first UK lockdown, that fateful Monday evening when the PM announced drastic measures to halt the spread of COVID-19. On social media there is talk of a lockdownversary, a portmanteau word which shows how elastic English is. Read More

RNA vaccine and vision board highlight new words for March

19th Mar 2021

One year ago, in March 2020, there was a very clear theme linking many of the new words that were being added to Collins Dictionary. Terms such as social distancing, contact tracing, shutdown order, and… Read More

Spanish word of the week: vez

17th Mar 2021

This week’s Spanish word of the week is 'vez'. 'Vez' is a noun that means 'time' Read More

Spanish word of the week: ojo

10th Mar 2021

This week’s Spanish word of the week is 'ojo'. 'Ojo' is a noun that means 'eye' Read More

World Book Day: read up on the language of books

4th Mar 2021

Thursday marks UK World Book Day. Fifteen million UK primary and secondary pupils will receive a £1 voucher to cash in for a book priced by publishers at a nominal £1. The aim is to encourage reading for pleasure. Reading for pleasure is, paradoxically, not pure and simple pleasure. Read More

Spanish word of the week: despertar

3rd Mar 2021

This week’s Spanish word of the week is despertar. Despertar is a verb that means 'to wake ... up' Read More

From sploot to EGOT: discover the latest words added to the Collins Dictionary

25th Feb 2021

Have you ever seen your pet sploot? You may well have done, even if you didn’t know that there was a word for it. This is what an animal does when, instead of tucking its legs neatly under its own body, it lies flat on its… Read More