Oxford Dictionary Adds More Bermuda Words

The Oxford English Dictionary has added four new ‘Bermudian English’ terms — “bimpert,” “hamma,” “shadeesh” and “to cut someone’s tail” — in its latest update.

A spokesperson said, “Oxford Languages announces its latest Oxford English Dictionary [OED] update. In 2021, the OED added a significant number of words and phrases from one of the oldest dialects of English to develop outside of Britain: Bermudian English.

“Now, five years later, the dictionary has welcomed a few more Bermudian additions, as part of a valuable new collaboration with the Bermuda Spelling Bee, an annual spelling competition for 9 to 13 year-olds designed to foster a love of language and learning among young Bermudians. The Bee, now entering its third year, is launched at the beginning of each academic year in September, with regional Semi-Finals taking place in February, and the Final in March. Each year, a study booklet containing a list of around 2,000 words is prepared and distributed to schools to support students in their preparation.

“With the OED as the official partner dictionary of the Bee, this year’s newly updated booklet uses the OED as its key source and features fascinating stories and facts about some of the words on the list. Words from all over the world are to be found in the booklet, including both new and pre-existing Bermudian English entries. Since Bermuda uses both British and U.S. English spelling, both systems are acknowledged and accepted in the competition, just as they are in the OED.

“Most of the new Bermudian English words in this OED update are also included in this year’s Spelling Bee wordlist. One of these words is hamma, dating from 1980, the Bermudian term for a friend. It is also used as a familiar form of address, as in this line from the 1994 mystery novel Bermuda by Vanessa Fox: ‘Hey, hamma. It’s a beautiful day.’ Although it sounds and is also sometimes spelled like the word hammer, the etymological origin of hamma is unknown. Also of unknown origin, but somewhat less positive in connotation, is bimpert [earliest seen 2009], a Bermudian word for a stupid or foolish person.

“Shadeesh [2010] is what Bermudians call a chorizo. The word is a borrowing from Portuguese, and its spelling represents how chouriço is pronounced in the Azores, the group of small islands from which many Portuguese-speaking settlers in Bermuda originate.

“To cut someone’s tail means to punish someone physically or to beat them up. This expression is used not only in Bermuda but also in the Caribbean; its earliest quotation in the OED is from Trinidadian author Samuel Selvon’s 1956 novel The Lonely Londoners, which tells the story of Caribbean immigrants of the Windrush generation in post-World War II London: ‘Boy, when I was a little fellar my mother cut my tail if I play in the street.’ This phrase is an example of the vocabulary that Bermuda shares with its neighbouring region, which is also part of this update.

“The full list of Bermudian English words added in this update is as follows:

• bimpert, n.
• hamma, n.
• shadeesh, n.
• to cut someone’s tail, phrase in cut, v.

“You can find out more about the OED’s new additions from Bermuda, the Caribbean, East Africa, New Zealand, and Wales in these World English release notes. ”

These 2026 additions follow after the first set of Bermudian words and phrases were added to the Oxford English Dictionary [OED] in its March 2021 update, which were “aceboy,” “acegirl,” “chingas,” “chopse,” “chopsing,” “go long,” “Gombey,” “greeze,” “gribble,” “mice,” “mug,” “Onion,” “well” and “wrinch.”

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