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The dictionary contains 157,000 combinations and derivatives, and 169,000 phrases and combinations, making a total of over 600,000 word-forms. [37][38] A dictionary of orthography. Contains 253,000 entries (253,000 words). [44][45] Nine volumes of this dictionary were printed in years 1935–1957.
It has been estimated that the vocabulary of English includes roughly 1 million words (although most linguists would take that estimate with a chunk of salt, and some have said they wouldn't be surprised if it is off the mark by a quarter-million); that tally includes the myriad names of chemicals and other scientific entities.
First, let’s look at how many words are in the Dictionary. The Second Edition of the 20-volume Oxford English Dictionary contains full entries for 171,476 words in current use (and 47,156 obsolete words).
Over the years, English has been influenced by and adopted words from various languages, and today, it contains words from hundreds of different languages. These words are estimated to make up about 80% of the English language.
How many words are there in the dictionary? No, you won’t find a single dictionary that includes anywhere close to the total million words that can be considered part of English.
This study estimated that there are just over a million words in the English language. Most scholars, though, agree that this number is somewhat inflated – in part by the counting of similar words – and look to dictionaries for a more realistic guide. Merriam-Webster, as of 1993, estimated around 470,000.
According to Oxford Scholarly Editions Online, the Oxford Latin Dictionary contains 40,000 headwords and 100,000 senses. Since Latin is a dead language, those numbers are unlikely to change. On the other hand, languages such as Dutch, German, and Chinese all have new words that enter into current use all the time.
Of those 600,000 words, a little more than 171,000 words see common and regular use in modern English. Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged (1993 Addenda Section) has roughly 470,000 entries. Similar to the Oxford English Dictionary, many of the included words are not used regularly.
To take a famous case, the entry for set in the Oxford English Dictionary runs to 60,000 words. The noun alone has 47 separate senses listed. Are all these distinct words? And in a wider sense, what do you include in your list of words? Do you count all the regional variations of English? Or slang? Dialect? Family or private language?
Global Language Monitor’s official estimate of the number of words in the English language as of November 11, 2022 is: 1,074,372.4. Official Estimate of the Number of English Words Created Every Day. 14.7 words Per Day. English has continued to churn out about 14.7 neologisms per day — about 5366 words a year.