Printer-friendly view |

500 words and Oxford Dictionaires for Children

Children's Word of the Year: 2018 Insights

Oxford Dictionaries for Children has once again teamed up with BBC Radio 2's 500 WORDS – the nationwide competition to find the most talented young writers!

Children's Word of the Year: 2018 Insights

Oxford Dictionaries for Children has once again teamed up with BBC Radio 2's 500 WORDS – the nationwide competition to find the most talented young writers!


Oxford Children's Word of the Year

A record number of over 134,000 children entered the BBC Radio 2 500 Words competition this year. The 2018 Children’s Word of the Year is plastic.

The use of the word plastic shows in new contexts in 2018. In 2017, some of the words associated with plastic were bag, box, bottle, cup, chair, toy and spoon. In 2018, we have bag, bottle, rubbish, ocean, fish, waste and pollution. For the first time the word has been used in an emotive context, the recurrent theme being the damage caused by plastic pollution.


For detailed analysis, read the Oxford Corpus Summary Report

500 Words 2018 Insights

The Environment

The Environment

Gaming vs Playing

Gaming vs. Playing

Mythical Creatures

Mythical Creatures

Women in History

Women in History

Word Play

Word Play

Resources for Creative Writing

How to Write Your Best Story Ever!

Awaken the author in every child with this inspiring book

Write Your Best Story Ever! Notebook

A notebook to inspire children to write and get creative

How to Be a Young #Writer

The go-to guide to becoming a #writer, for age 11+

Oxford Roald Dahl Dictionary

Oxford Roald Dahl Dictionary

A unique Roald Dahl Dictionary from Oxford

Oxford Primary Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling Dictionary

The essential primary guide to grammar, punctuation, and spelling

Oxford School Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar Dictionary

An invaluable guide to getting your spelling, punctuation, and grammar right

Highlights from our bestselling Dictionaries range

Oxford Junior Illustrated Dictionary

Oxford Junior Illustrated Dictionary

An easy-to-use reference book for developing dictionary skills

Oxford Junior Illustrated Thesaurus

Oxford Junior Illustrated Thesaurus

A fun thesaurus full of words for brilliant creative writing

Oxford Primary Dictionary

Oxford Primary Dictionary

Enrich children's language with this best-selling Primary dictionary

Oxford Primary Thesaurus

Oxford Primary Thesaurus

Empower children to write independently with the Oxford Primary Thesaurus

Oxford School Dictionary

Oxford School Dictionary

Bestselling school dictionary with new curriculum support

Oxford School Thesaurus

Oxford School Thesaurus

Bestselling school thesaurus with new curriculum support

How to orderContact your Educational Consultant2018 cataloguesOnline evaluationTell us what you think about our websiteRights & permissionsHelp & support