• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Zippy Facts Logo

Zippy Facts

Interesting Random Facts

  • Animals
  • Culture
  • Firsts
  • Food
  • Geography
  • Health
  • History
  • Inventions
  • Language
  • Mythology
  • Odds
  • People
  • Religion
  • Science
  • Space
  • Universe
  • World
You are here: Home / Odds / Does Any Dictionary Have All the Words in Our Language?

Does Any Dictionary Have All the Words in Our Language?

February 8, 2020 by Karen Hill

Most paperback dictionaries contain about 50,000 words, and the average home dictionary has about 100,000 words. The biggest dictionary in America, Webster’s Third International, contains over 400,000 words.

But the biggest dictionary in the world is the Oxford English Dictionary, a 12-volume work that contains more than 415,000 words, with not only their meaning, but their complete history as well!

But those 415,000 words in Oxford are not the total number of words in English. Our language has more than 800,000 words, including all technical terms. And no dictionary is big enough to contain all those words.

The word unabridged in a dictionary’s title doesn’t mean that the book has all the words in the language; it simply means that the dictionary contains all the words that were in an earlier edition of that book.

The Oxford English Dictionary took 44 years to complete!

Related Facts

  • Did the prehistoric Neanderthals make any tools and art or develop any complex language and culture?
  • The History of the Dictionary
  • When Was the Dictionary Invented?
  • Where does the expression "weasel words" come from and What does "weasel words" mean?
  • How Many English Words End in "gry" and Which English Words Rhyme with Orange, Purple, and Silver?
  • Where Did the Words Shindig, Shebang, and Shillelagh Come From and What Do the Irish Words Mean?

Filed Under: Odds

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

Previous Post: « What Country Changed Continents?
Next Post: What Is a Sardine? »

Footer

Follow

  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • GitHub
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Medium
  • Pinterest
  • StumbleUpon
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Categories

Accomplishments Animals Culture Firsts Food Geography Health History Inventions Language Mythology Odds People Religion Science Space Universe World Your Body

About

Zippy Facts empowers the world by serving educational content that is accessible to everyone.

A tribute to growing up, zippyfacts.com showcases interesting and unusual facts about the world.

Our mission is to use technology to facilitate knowledge transfer and sharing.

Copyright © 2021 Zippy Facts

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy