Southern Indian slang Aiyo has made an entry into the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).
While the Internet had fun discussing the addition of Oompa Loompa in the Oxford dictionary, this southern slang had also quietly made an entry. OED has defined the popular word as, “In southern India and Sri Lanka, expressing distress, regret, or grief; ‘Oh no!’, ‘Oh dear!’”
Apart from aiyo, aiyoh and aiyah’have also been included in the lexicon. Though the two words can be identified as part of the Indian vocabulary too, OED has actually included their Chinese usage
The latest addition saw the inclusion of various Singapore English words like mamak (Malaysian word for street stall), pancit (flat tyre) and even popular dishes from Singapore and South-east Asia like char kway teow, chicken rice and rendang.
The dictionary also paid a sort of a tribute to author Roald Dahl, by adding words he invented like “splendiferous”, “human bean” and “Oompa Loompa.” The children’s books writer’s birthday falls in September. The OED updates its bank of words four times in a year, and almost every year some people find its choices like srsly, squee, obvs and omg hard to believe.
The Oxford English Dictionary has been the foremost authority on the English language, all over the world. OED is more than 150 years old and contains at least 6,00,000 entries. It is updated four times -- March, June, September, and December in a year.