How Many Words Are There in English?

It’s not an easy task to quantify all of the words in English. According to the December 2020 update from the Oxford English Dictionary (1), there are more than 600,000 words in English. Of course, some of them have become obsolete (i.e.: not used anymore; out of use). It’s quite an impressive number. So, how many words does a native speaker use on average? The answer could be from 15,000-20,000 words and their inflected forms (2).

References

  1. Oxford English Dictionary (2020): Words of an Unprecedented Year, December 2020. Source: https://www.oed.com/
  2. Sagar-Fenton B., McNeill L. (2018): How many words do you need to speak a language?, BBC News, June 2018. Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-44569277Facebook:

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