Scrabble has added 300 new words to its boardgame, including everyday phrases such as 'OK' and 'ew'.

Merriam-Webster released the sixth edition of The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, four years after the last freshening up.

There are some sweet scorers now eligible for play, including bizjet, and some magical vowel dumps, such as arancini, which are Italian balls of cooked rice.

Other new acceptable words are aquafaba, beatdown, zomboid, twerk, sheeple, wayback, bokeh, botnet, emoji, facepalm, memek frowny, hivemind, puggle and nubber. 




Scrabble has added 300 new words to its boardgame, including everyday phrases such as 'OK' and 'ew'

Bizjet, meaning a small plane used for business, would be worth a whopping 120 points on an opening play, but only if it is made into a plural with an 's'. 

That is due to the 50-point bonus for using all seven tiles and the double word bonus space usually played at the start.

'OK is something Scrabble players have been waiting for, for a long time,' said lexicographer Peter Sokolowski, editor at large at Merriam-Webster.




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'Basically two and three-letter words are the lifeblood of the game.'

There is more good news in qapik - a unit of currency in Azerbaijan - adding to an arsenal of 20 playable words beginning with 'q' that do not need a 'u'.

'Every time there's a word with "q" and no "u", it's a big deal,' Sokolowski said. 'Most of these are obscure.' 









Other new acceptable words are yowza (shown), aquafaba, beatdown, zomboid, twerk, sheeple, wayback, bokeh, botnet, emoji, facepalm, frowny, hivemind, puggle and nubber





There are some sweet scorers now eligible for play, including bizjet, and some magical vowel dumps, such as arancini, which are Italian balls of cooked rice

The US dictionary company sought counsel from the North American Scrabble Players Association when updating the book, Mr Sokolowski said, 'to make sure that they agree these words are desirable'.

Mr Sokolowski has a favorite among the new words but not, primarily, because of Scrabble scores.

'It's macaron,' he said, referring to the delicate French sandwich cookie featuring different flavors and fillings. 'I just like what it means,' he said.