Here are 10 words that make it into the African-American English dictionary

Accurate definitions of ‘bussin’, ‘chitterlings’ and ‘cakewalk’ will be distributed globally in 2025 with a new dictionary published by Oxford University Press.

Last year, Oxford University Press revealed plans to publish the “Oxford Dictionary of African American English,” a completely peerless catalog. In a recent online presentation, people associated with the publication have already selected 100 words to add to its dictionary and are considering a March 2025 release, according to The New York Times.

Below, find 10 definitions and etymologies from the Times Publishing and Disclosure Dictionary.

• of the bus (Adjective and Participle): 1. Describe the food in particular: delicious, delicious. And more generally: impressive, excellent. 2. Describe a party, event, etc.: busy, crowded, lively. (Alternative forms: bussing, bussin’.)
• Grill (noun): A removable or permanent dental covering, usually made of silver, gold, or another metal and often set with precious stones, that is worn like jewelry.
• The Promised Land (n.): A place where slaves and later African Americans could generally find refuge and live freely. (Sermon: A reference to the biblical history of the Jewish people seeking freedom from Egyptian slavery.)
• Chitterlings (n. plural): A dish made from pork intestines, usually boiled, fried, or stuffed with other ingredients. Sometimes pork intestines are an ingredient. (Alternative forms: sitlins, sitlins, sitlings, sitterlins.)
• Food (n.): The hair on the back of the neck, usually short, frizzy, and difficult to style.
• sleight of hand (n.): 1. A contest in which blacks perform a pageantry in pairs, usually judged by the plantation owner. The winner gets a cake of some sort. 2. Something that is considered easy to do This job is child’s play.
• Old school (adj.): Characteristic of early hip-hop or rap music that emerged in New York City in the late 1970s and mid-1980s, often featuring verses, funk and disco samples, and playful lyrics. Also used to describe music and artists of that style and period. (Variant form: Old School.)
• Tap (verb): 1. Intermediate. Tap (with feet) in rhythm with music, sometimes as a sign of participation in religious worship. 2. immutable. Usually from a person’s feet: tap time to music, sometimes demonstrating participation in religious worship.
• Aunt Hagar’s children (n.): A reference to black people collectively. (Discourse: The Bible may refer to Hagar, who, along with her son Ishmael, was cast out by Sarah and Abraham (Ishmael’s father), and who, among some black communities, became the symbolic mother of all Africans and African-Americans, and black womanhood.)
• A resounding cry (n.): A spiritual ritual involving a dance in which the participants follow each other in a ring, waving their feet, clapping their hands and chanting. The dancing and singing gradually escalate, often ending with the participants expressing a state of spiritual ecstasy.

The public can contribute to the collection by submitting relevant words here.

Henry Louis Gates Jr. is a literary critic and professor of African-American history at Harvard University. He spoke to The Times about his role as editor of the project, which brings together researchers and writers from Oxford Languages ​​and Harvard University’s Hutchins Center of African & African American Research.

“Everyone has a great need for self-expression,” Gates explained in his interview about the importance of content and word representation in dictionaries. “You need to communicate how you feel and what you think to others in your language community… That’s why we’ve redesigned the English language. »

According to Gates, these words will be included in the Oxford English Dictionary.

“It’s the best of both worlds,” he said of the decision to add the words to the English-language dictionary. “Because we want to show that, as they say, black English spoken in the world is part of the larger English,” he noted.