For the past 10 years, the last word to the oxford dictionary was zythum –an ancient Egyptian malt beer. But now finally, a new word has taken the title of the last word of oxford dictionary, its ‘Zyzzyva’. Zyzzyva is a tropical beetle. It can be found in the palm trees in South America. As the OED (The Oxford English Dictionary) says, the word is pronounced as Ziziva. The word was first coined by Thomas Lincoln Casey in 1922.

Fiona McPherson, new words editor, told The Times: “No one knows where zyzzyva came from. There are some sources saying it makes a reference to the noises made by the weevil.” Katherine Connor Martin, Head of US Dictionaries said in a blog post says, “The motivation for the name is not clear, Some sources suggest it is an onomatopoeic reference to the noise made by the weevil, possibly inspired by a former genus of leafhoppers, Zyzza, and perhaps chosen deliberately as an alphabetical curiosity.”

Many new entries have been added to the list of new words. The OED updates 4 things every year in March, June, September, and December. So the next update can be seen in September 2017.