Moobs, YOLO, fuhgeddaboudit, in new Oxford English Dictionary

"Moobs" refer to a man's pecs when they've becoming a bit flabby. Photo / 123RF

"Moobs" and "gender-fluid" are among more than 1,000 new words and phrases in the latest edition of the Oxford English Dictionary - along with "Westminster bubble."

Gender-fluid, an adjective first recorded in 1987, now refers to a person who doesn't identify with a single fixed gender.

Moobs is the chiefly British colloquialism, first recorded in 2001, used to describe unusually prominent breasts on a man, typically as a result of excess pectoral fat.

First used in 1998, "Westminster bubble" describes an insular community of politicians, journalists, and civil servants, who appear to be out of touch with the experiences of the wider British public.

A feast of food-related terms have also made the latest update, which includes cheese eater and cheese-eating, chef de partie and chef de cabinet, as well as chefdom - a noun meaning the overall fact, state, or positioning of becoming a chef.

Cheeseball has also been added, to describe someone or something lacking taste, style, or originality; or the breaded and deep fried cheese appetizer.

Another new addition is Bocconcini, which can denote any small items of food, also means balls of mozzarella.

And fans of Greek food will be pleased to see the inclusion of the spinach and cheese stuffed filo pastry pie, spanakopita.

Foodie words from South East Asia have also made their way into the update, with the addition of the Malaysian or Indonesian dish, rendang; the flat rice noodle dish stir-fried in soy sauce and shrimp paste, char kway teow; and the Filipino oxtail stew with a peanut-based sauce, kare-kare.

Other interesting additions include "fuhgeddaboudit" - a US colloquialism, associated especially with New York and New Jersey, reflecting an attempted regional pronunciation of the phrase "forget about it" - used to indicate a suggested scenario is unlikely or undesirable.

Yogalates - what when Pilates exercises and combined with the postures and breathing techniques of yoga - is also included along with YOLO, a popular acronym used on social media, meaning "you only live once."

Michael Proffitt, chief Editor of the OED, said the latest update includes more than 1,000 revised and updated entries and around 1,200 new senses.

He added: "This confirms the OED as one of the largest and longest-running language research projects in the world."

The OED is a guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of more than 829,000 words, senses, and compounds - past and present - from across the English-speaking world.