Words to Dig

What do the words goober, hip, and cool have in common? They all come from African American history and culture. So do phrases like shout out and nitty gritty.

English has many such words and expressions that began in Black communities and made their way around the nation and throughout the English-speaking world. The process has been happening over generations, linguists say, adding an untold number of contributions to the language, including such expressions as bad meaning “good” and dig meaning “to understand”—and words with African origins such as gumbo and okra.

Now, a new dictionary in the works, the Oxford Dictionary of African American English, will attempt to codify the contributions and celebrate the rich relationship Black Americans have with the English language.

A project of Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African & African American Research and Oxford University Press, the dictionary won’t just collect spellings and definitions, but will also create a historical record and serve as a tribute to the people behind the words, says Henry Louis Gates Jr., the project’s editor in chief and the Hutchins Center’s director.

“Just the way Louis Armstrong took the trumpet and turned it inside out from the way people played European classical music,” says Gates, Black people took English and “reinvented it, to make it reflect their sensibilities and to make it mirror their cultural selves.”

The idea for the new dictionary was born when Oxford asked Gates to join forces to better represent African American English in its existing dictionaries. Gates instead proposed they do something more ambitious. The project was announced in June, and the first version is expected in 2025.

While Oxford’s won’t be the first-ever dictionary focusing on African American speech, it will be an ambitious, well-funded effort, drawing on the knowledge of major institutions.

The dictionary will contain words and phrases originally, predominantly, or exclusively used by African Americans, says Danica Salazar, the executive editor for World Englishes for Oxford Languages. That might include a word like kitchen, which is a term used to describe the hair that grows at the nape of the neck.

What do the words goober, hip, and cool have in common? They all come from African American history and culture. So do phrases like shout out and nitty gritty.

English has many such words and expressions that began in Black communities. They’ve made their way around the nation and throughout the English-speaking world. Linguists say that the process has been happening over generations. Over time, an untold number of contributions have been added to the English language. Among them are expressions such as bad meaning “good” and dig meaning “to understand.” Words with African origins such as gumbo and okra are also included in this mix.

A new dictionary, the Oxford Dictionary of African American English, is now in the works. It will try to catalog the contributions and celebrate the rich relationship Black Americans have with the English language.

The dictionary is a project of Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African & African American Research and Oxford University Press. It will collect spellings and definitions. It will also create a historical record and honor the people behind the words, says Henry Louis Gates Jr., the project’s editor in chief and the Hutchins Center’s director.

“Just the way Louis Armstrong took the trumpet and turned it inside out from the way people played European classical music,” says Gates, Black people took English and “reinvented it to make it reflect their sensibilities and to make it mirror their cultural selves.”

The idea for the new dictionary was born when Oxford asked Gates to join forces to better represent African American English in its existing dictionaries. Gates instead proposed they do something more daring. The project was announced in June, and the first version is expected in 2025.

Oxford’s won’t be the first-ever dictionary focusing on African American speech. Still, it will be a bold, well-funded effort that draws on the knowledge of major institutions.

The dictionary will contain words and phrases first, mostly, or only used by African Americans, says Danica Salazar, the executive editor for World Englishes for Oxford Languages. That might include a word like kitchen, which is a term used to describe the hair that grows at the back of the neck.

Creating a dictionary involves figuring out where and when a word originated. To do this, researchers often look to books, magazines, and newspapers, Salazar says, because those written documents are easy to date.

Resources could also include books like Cab Calloway’s Cat-ologue: a Hepster’s Dictionary from 1938, a collection of words used by musicians, including beat to mean tired; Dan Burley’s Original Handbook of Harlem Jive, published in 1944; and Black Talk: Words and Phrases from the Hood to the Amen Corner, from 1994.

Researchers can look to interviews with formerly enslaved people, Salazar says, and to music, such as the lyrics in old jazz songs. The project’s editors also plan to crowdsource information, with callouts on the Oxford website and on social media, asking Black Americans what words they’d like to see in the dictionary and for help with historical documentation.

“Maybe there’s a diary in your grandmother’s attic that has evidence of [a certain] word,” Salazar says.

Creating a dictionary involves figuring out where and when a word originated. To do this, researchers often look to books, magazines, and newspapers, Salazar says. That’s because those written documents are easy to date.

Resources could also include books like Cab Calloway’s Cat-ologue: a Hepster’s Dictionary from 1938, a collection of words used by musicians, including beat to mean tired; Dan Burley’s Original Handbook of Harlem Jive, published in 1944; and Black Talk: Words and Phrases from the Hood to the Amen Corner, from 1994.

Researchers can look to interviews with formerly enslaved people, Salazar says. They can also turn to music, such as the lyrics in old jazz songs, she adds. The project’s editors also plan to crowdsource information. They’ll do so using callouts on Oxford’s website and social media. Through these, they’ll ask Black Americans what words they’d like to see in the dictionary and for help with historical documentation.

“Maybe there’s a diary in your grandmother’s attic that has evidence of [a certain] word,” Salazar says.

The Oxford English Dictionary (O.E.D.), long-considered one of the world’s most authoritative dictionaries, has crowdsourced since the 19th century, she adds. As the first edition was created, inserts were slipped into books looking for volunteers to read particular books, write down phrases they found interesting, and mail them back to Oxford. The editor of the O.E.D. received so much mail that he set his own postbox up in front of his house.

Gates explains that the Oxford Dictionary of African American English will not only give the definition of a word, but will also describe where it came from and how it emerged.

“You wouldn’t normally think of a dictionary as a way of telling the story of the evolution of the African American people, but it is,” Gates says. “If you sat down and read the dictionary, you’d get a history of the African American people from A to Z.”

African American English is a variety with its own syntax, word structure, and pronunciation features, says Tracey Weldon, a linguist who studies African American English, and a member of the dictionary’s advisory board. But it has long been stigmatized, dismissed as inferior, or ignored.

The Oxford English Dictionary (O.E.D.) has long been considered one of the world’s leading dictionaries. It has crowdsourced since the 19th century, Salazar notes. As the first edition was created, inserts were slipped into books looking for volunteers. These prompted people to read certain books, write down phrases they found interesting, and mail them back to Oxford. The editor of the O.E.D. received so much mail that he set a postbox up in front of his house.

Gates explains that the Oxford Dictionary of African American English will give the definition of a word and also describe where it came from and how it emerged.

“You wouldn’t normally think of a dictionary as a way of telling the story of the evolution of the African American people, but it is,” Gates says. “If you sat down and read the dictionary, you’d get a history of the African American people from A to Z.”

African American English is a variety, says Tracey Weldon, a linguist who studies African American English, and a member of the dictionary’s advisory board. It has its own syntax, word structure, and pronunciation features. But it has long been labeled as improper English, dismissed as less than, or ignored.

“It is almost never the case that African American English is recognized as even legitimate, much less ‘good,’ or something to be lauded,” she says. “And yet it is the lexicon, it is the vocabulary that is the most imitated and celebrated—but not with the African American speech community being given credit for it.”

This dictionary will offer many insights, Gates says, but one overarching lesson jumps out.

“The bottom line of the African American people, when you read this dictionary,” Gates says, “is that you’ll say these are people who love language.”

“It is almost never the case that African American English is recognized as even legitimate, much less ‘good,’ or something to be lauded,” she says. “And yet it is the lexicon, it is the vocabulary that is the most imitated and celebrated—but not with the African American speech community being given credit for it.”

Gates says that this dictionary will offer many insights. But one key lesson jumps out, he notes.

“The bottom line of the African American people, when you read this dictionary,” Gates says, “is that you’ll say these are people who love language.”

Elizabeth A. Harris writes about books and publishing for The New York Times.

Elizabeth A. Harris writes about books and publishing for The New York Times.