By KINGSLEY MARK AKPAN

The word “digidiot”, coined by Dr. Udeme Nana, has been officially published on the Collins Dictionary website.

There 24 billion words in the Collins Corpus database, only about 50,000 words get added to the Collins Dictionaries periodical editions. Keep this in mind.

I’ve always been on the lookout for certain digital search terms, so when the search result for “digidiot” turned up today, I got excited. Why? I’ll tell you why.

“Digidiot” has officially published by Collins Dictionary as one of the words being monitored for evidence of usage and subsequent addition to the English language dictionary. This didn’t happen in one day though.

“Digidiot” is a fusion – a portmanteau, to be more precise – of “digital” and “idiots” coined by Dr. Udeme Nana, the Founder of the Uyo Book Club who triples as a Journalist, Public Relations Expert, and Media Scholar.

The journey to consideration and recognition began a year and a month ago. Summarized, it began with word submission (while adhering to stated requisites), then on to the lengthy process of the Dictionaries’ board of linguistic experts – “lexicographers” they are called – vetting the submitted word to assess its eligibility for addition. Then the lexicon experts go on to publish the list of words they find worthy of addition.

“Digidiots” has attained that stage. And just to impress you even more, read the succeeding paragraph.

Collins Dictionaries (yes, “Dictionaries” because Collins publishes in other languages too) have a database called the “Collins Corpus”. It contained about 4.5 billion words as at 2007, and, according to The Guardian, it has expanded to 24 billion words in its database being monitored by the lexicographers today.

That’s 109 times the 2026 estimated population of Nigeria; the estimate being 220 million people in Nigeria.

Yet, the staggering number of words regardless, “digidiot” has been moved up the list. It’s akin to the process(es) of the NLNG Nigeria Prize for Literature Longlist and Shortlist. Something like that.

So, what’s the next phase for “digidiot”? Use it. “Digidiot” is an actual word which conforms to just about every rule there is on new word creation. Still, it happening already – “digidiot” is finding its way into the vocabulary of everyday.

Oh! Remember not to be a digidiot.

Here’s the link to the consideration page on the Collins Dictionary website which was upvoted for consideration this month of May 2026 after 13 months of vetting: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/submission/729947/Digidiot .

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