Satoshi – Now On the Oxford Dictionary


The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) recently announced that they have included the word Satoshi in the latest Quaterly update to the infamous online dictionary.

This is the latest addition of a word that is part of the crypto industry jargon to the reputable English-language vocabulary, but not the first. In 2013, OED added “Bitcoin” as a word, defining it as “a digital currency in which transactions can be performed without the need for a central bank.” The decision was made as part of a quarterly update this month.

The new word, satoshi, is defined in the famous English dictionary as:

“the smallest monetary unit in the Bitcoin digital payment system, equal to one hundred millionth of a bitcoin.”

The announcement goes on to accurately recognize that the ‘satoshi’ cryptocurrency unit is named after Satoshi Nakamoto, the—probably pseudonymous—developer(s) of Bitcoin. Notably, the ‘satoshi’ addition means that the Oxford English Dictionary is now home to several cryptocurrency, and blockchain-related words with the definition provided for some of the most popular ones listed below.

In the latest quarterly update, the OED has also added the word “cryptocurrency” to its database, defining it in two ways:

Firstly as “an informal, substitute currency. rare,” and secondly as “any of various digital payment systems operating independently of a central authority and employing cryptographic techniques to control and verify transactions in a unique unit of account; (also) the units of account of such a system, considered collectively.”

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