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{{Short description|Dictionary website}}
{{For|the programming language|Lexico (programming language)}}
{{Redirect|Oxford Dictionaries|other dictionaries published by Oxford University Press|Oxford dictionary (disambiguation){{!}}Oxford dictionary}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Use Oxford spelling|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox website
| name = Lexico
| logo = Lexico logo.svg
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| url = {{URL|https://www.lexico.com/}}
| commercial = Yes
| type = [[Online dictionary|Dictionary]]
| registration = None
| language = {{hlist|English|Spanish}}
| num_users =
| content_license = 
| programming_language =
| owner = [[Dictionary.com]]
| authors = [[Oxford University Press]]
| editor = 
| launch_date = {{Start date and age|df=yes|2019|6}}
| revenue =
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'''Lexico''' is an online dictionary website that provides a collection of English and Spanish dictionaries produced by [[Oxford University Press]] (OUP), the [[publishing house]] of the [[University of Oxford]]. While the dictionary content on Lexico comes from OUP, this website is operated by [[Dictionary.com]], whose eponymous website hosts dictionaries by other publishers such as [[Random House]].

Before this site was launched, the ''[[Oxford Dictionary of English]]'' and [[New Oxford American Dictionary|''New Oxford American Dictionar''y]] were previously hosted by OUP's own website, '''Oxford Dictionaries Online''' ('''ODO'''), later known as '''Oxford Living Dictionaries'''. The dictionaries' definitions appear in [[Google Dictionary|Google definition search]], the [[Dictionary (software)|Dictionary]] application on [[macOS]], among others, licensed through Oxford Dictionaries [[application programming interface|API]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://developer.oxforddictionaries.com/|title=Oxford Dictionaries API|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=22 June 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Bell|first=Karissa|date=4 December 2015|url=https://mashable.com/2015/12/03/siri-bitch-definition/|title=Why Siri showed a definition of b*tch that offended everyone|work=Mashable|access-date=22 June 2019}}</ref>

==History==
In the 2000s, OUP allowed access to content of the ''[[Compact Oxford English Dictionary of Current English]]'' on a website called AskOxford.com.<ref>{{cite journal|title=AskOxford.com|journal=Reference & User Services Quarterly|volume=44|issue=1|page=40|year=2004|jstor=20864286|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/2004540037/}}</ref> In 2010, Oxford Dictionaries Online was launched under oxforddictionaries.com,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pubfactory.com/news/oed.html|title=Oxford University Press Chooses PubFactory to Develop Oxford English Dictionary|publisher=PubFactory|date=4 August 2010|access-date=11 June 2019}}</ref> superseding the dictionary content of AskOxford.com. Buyers of the third edition of the ''[[Oxford Dictionary of English]]'', also published in 2010, were granted a one-year subscription to the website's subscription content.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/vuvuzela-staycation-among-2000-words-added-to-oxford-dictionary-2057529.html|title="Vuvuzela," "staycation" among 2,000 words added to Oxford Dictionary|newspaper=The Independent|date=20 August 2010|access-date=11 June 2019}}</ref> The website's English dictionaries incorporated content of the ''Oxford Dictionary of English'', ''[[New Oxford American Dictionary]]'', ''Oxford Thesaurus of English'', and ''Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus''. It also provided a Spanish monolingual dictionary and bilingual dictionaries between English and several languages.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/words/content-help|title=Oxford Dictionaries content help|work=Oxford Dictionaries|publisher=Oxford University Press|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160827055416/https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/words/content-help|archive-date=27 August 2016}}</ref> {{As of|June 2014}}, it was updated every three months.<ref>{{cite news|last=Harrison|first=Emma|date=19 June 2014|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-27868836|title=Oxford dictionaries: Demise of the printed editions?|work=BBC News|access-date=11 June 2019}}</ref>

In 2014, OUP launched Oxford Global Languages, an initiative to build lexical resources (bilingual dictionaries) of the world's languages, starting with [[Zulu language|Zulu]] and [[Northern Sotho language|Northern Sotho]] online dictionaries released in 2015.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://languages.oup.com/ogl|title=Oxford Global Languages|work=Oxford Dictionaries|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=11 June 2019}}</ref> In 2016, the free content of Oxford Dictionaries Online was rebranded as Oxford Living Dictionaries, and the subscription content as Oxford Dictionaries Premium.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/help|title=Help|work=Oxford Living Dictionaries|publisher=Oxford University Press|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160925172124/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/help|archive-date=25 September 2016}}</ref>

In June 2019, the free-of-charge dictionaries of English and Spanish were moved to Lexico.com, a collaboration between OUP and [[Dictionary.com]], though with the lexicographic content continuing to be written solely by OUP staff. While the offer of the US English dictionary on Oxford Living Dictionaries was terminated upon the migration to Lexico except for words which the UK dictionary did not have entries for,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://languages.oup.com/lexico-faqs|title=Lexico.com FAQS|work=Oxford Dictionaries|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=11 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190616173800/https://languages.oup.com/lexico-faqs|archive-date=16 June 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lexico.com/about|title=About|work=Lexico|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200207124532/https://www.lexico.com/about|archive-date=7 February 2020}}</ref> the US dictionary became fully available again on Lexico in early 2020.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lexico.com/about|title=About|work=Lexico|access-date=16 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200217134105/https://www.lexico.com/about|archive-date=17 February 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> "Lexico" was itself part of the former name of the company Dictionary.com, Lexico Publishing Group, LLC.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/891103/000104746913005526/a2214555zex-3_13.htm|title=Amended and Restated Operating Agreement of Dictionary.com, LLC|publisher=U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission|date=17 July 2008|access-date=14 October 2019}}</ref>

In March 2020, the remaining Oxford Living Dictionaries websites, which hosted dictionaries made in the Global Languages programme, were closed. A statement from OUP said, "Rather than offering a dictionary website for every digitally under-resourced language, we will facilitate third parties to build products and services that best serve the needs of each individual language community. Our efforts will be focused on creating and providing the data that these third parties need."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://languages.oup.com/oxford-global-languages/|title=The latest news about Oxford Global Languages|website=Oxford Languages|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=30 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200330025307/https://languages.oup.com/oxford-global-languages/|archive-date=30 March 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> At the time of the closure, they hosted dictionaries of Zulu, Northern Sotho, [[Malay language|Malay]], [[Urdu]], [[Tswana language|Tswana]], [[Indonesian language|Indonesian]], [[Romanian language|Romanian]], [[Latvian language|Latvian]], [[Swahili language|Swahili]], [[Hindi]], [[Tamil language|Tamil]], [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]], [[Tatar language|Tatar]], [[Xhosa language|Xhosa]], [[Southern Quechua]], [[Tajik language|Tajik]], [[Tok Pisin]], [[Turkmen language|Turkmen]], [[Telugu language|Telugu]], and [[Modern Greek|Greek]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://languages.oup.com/dictionaries/|title=Our dictionaries|website=Oxford Languages|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=30 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200328235356/https://languages.oup.com/dictionaries/|archive-date=28 March 2020}}</ref>

==Comparison with the ''Oxford English Dictionary''==
The ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'' (''OED'') is a subscription service, while Lexico uses the Oxford Dictionaries [[API]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://developer.oxforddictionaries.com/|title=Oxford Dictionaries API|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=22 June 2019}}</ref> to offer more modern versions of the ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' and ''New Oxford American Dictionary'' to users for free. The ''OED'' described its difference from Oxford Dictionaries, the predecessor to Lexico, as follows:

<blockquote>The dictionary content in Oxford Dictionaries focuses on current English and includes modern meanings and uses of words. Where words have more than one meaning, the most important and common meanings in modern English are given first, and less common and more specialist or technical uses are listed below. The ''OED'', on the other hand, is a historical dictionary and it forms a record of all the core words and meanings in English over more than 1,000 years, from Old English to the present day, and including many obsolete and historical terms. Meanings are ordered chronologically in the ''OED'', according to when they were first recorded in English ...<ref>{{cite web|url=http://public.oed.com/about/the-oed-and-oxford-dictionaries/|title=The OED and Oxford Dictionaries|work=Oxford English Dictionary|publisher=Oxford University Press|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180228084422/http://public.oed.com/about/the-oed-and-oxford-dictionaries/|archive-date=28 February 2018}}</ref></blockquote>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Official website|https://www.lexico.com/}}

[[Category:English bilingual dictionaries]]
[[Category:Online English dictionaries]]
[[Category:Oxford dictionaries]]
[[Category:Spanish dictionaries]]

Lexico - Revision history

ImportMaster at 15:35, 3 May 2022