The University of Wales Dictionary was established by the University of Wales exactly 100 years ago. It contains almost 90,000 entries and around 9 million words—some of which have now fallen out of daily use, some newly minted.

Welsh, like every language, is continually evolving, and the dictionary that records it evolves too. This task is undertaken by a small team of experts in Aberystwyth, who research the earliest use of any word, its meaning and the various ways in which it is understood in different dialects. This work would not be possible without the support of the Welsh Government and the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.

In 2002, the dictionary’s four volumes were completed and published, and 'Zwinglîaidd', or 'Zwinglian' in English, was the last word at that time. Then, the task had to begin again, of constantly updating the dictionary. And, of course, the entire dictionary is available to everyone online, free of charge, and, since 2016, on the University of Wales Dictionary app too. It may be the first full historical dictionary available free of charge in this way.

I don’t know what the oldest word is in the Welsh language, but I’d wager that the youngest word may be 'hwblyn', which is a new word for 'booster' that was coined on Twitter in recent weeks by Dr Eilir Hughes—and it's a word that will appear in the dictionary at some point in the near future, I'm sure.

Thank you to all those who had the vision to create the dictionary 100 years ago and to those who maintain it today. Every language in the world needs a dictionary.