World Refugee Day

Sunday 20th June 2021 marks World Refugee Day, an initiative by the UN which highlights the power of inclusion and standing together to build a stronger, safer world for us all. To commemorate the 70th anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention, which defined a refugee under international law, this year… Read More

World Music Day

‘If music be the food of love, play on’ must be the second best-known quote from the Bard. These words uttered – or crooned in some performances – by Duke Orsino, who is in love with love itself, constitute the very first line of Twelfth Night. 21 June marks not… Read More

The One With All The Friends Vocabulary

Nearly 20 years after the final episode aired, fans around the world rejoiced as Friends: The Reunion finally graced our screens. As the cast toured the iconic sets and reflected on fond memories, we started reminiscing about the show’s classic words and phrases that have stuck very firmly in our… Read More

7 mouth-watering foodie words with roots in other languages

It’s a very magical time here at Collins Dictionaries, as a number of brand-new words enter our hallowed pages. As we were browsing the new words, two stood out for their foodie credentials: ‘bean-to-cup’, denoting the complete process for marketing coffee from whole coffee beans; and… Read More

Say Something Nice Day!

Nada cuesta añadir una sonrisa, ‘It costs nothing to add a smile’, is a Spanish phrase imprinted on my memory from when, years ago, I taught myself to touch-type in Spanish and it was one of the practice phrases. It’s an apt recollection, for 1 June is Say Something… Read More

11 Gen Z words you need to know

We love it when new words become a hot topic of conversation and the last few weeks, ‘cheugy’ has been sweeping social media. In case you missed it, ‘cheugy’ surfaced on TikTok and has been defined as ‘the opposite of trendy’. If you’re a cheug, your sense of style is… Read More

7 new words added to Collins Dictionary

Here are seven of the latest new words added to Collins English Dictionary online. A few of the terms in this update might seem a little on the negative side, with the inclusion of the underhand practice of ‘sealioning’ and the rather harsh judgment implied in ‘ugly cry’. The consequences… Read More

National Limerick Day

There was an old dictionary buff Whose dog snorted mountains of snuff. Himself, so we hear, Preferred to quaff beer, A brew it found frightfully duff. Ah, limericks! The verse form that trips off the tongue like no other. Once particularly popular with rugby teams and the forces, they are the one kind of… Read More

7 Shakespearean words to add to your vocabulary

It’s English Language Day! The annual event where language lovers come together to celebrate the great William Shakespeare and a chance to celebrate multilingualism in English-speaking countries around the globe. We’re celebrating with this list of 7 Shakespearean words to weave into your vocabulary. Without further ado, let us go… Read More