People who speak English alongside other languages fill lexical gaps by “borrowing the untranslatable word from another language”. When they do this often enough, the borrowed word “becomes part of their vocabulary”, OED said.

Research by Lisa McLendon, author of The Perfect English Grammar Workbook, found 67% of British students never or rarely use the semicolon.

The Japanese word “komorebi” (木漏れ日) describes sunlight dappling through leaves.

Google Books Ngram Viewer, which includes novels, nonfiction, and even scientific literature, shows that semicolon use in English rose by 388% between 1800 and 2006, before falling by 45% over the next 11 years. In 2017, however, it started a gradual recovery, with a 27% rise by 2022.

Along with Charles Dickens, Mark Twain and Jane Austen, Abraham Lincoln stood strong on the issue. “I have a great respect for the semicolon; it’s a very useful little chap,” he said.

It first appeared in the work of Italian scholar and printer Aldus Pius Manutius the Elder in 1494

Gigil, extracted from the Philippines’ Tagalog language, refers to what psychologists describe as cute aggression: “[a] feeling so intense that it gives us the irresistible urge to tightly clench our hands, grit our teeth, and pinch or squeeze whomever or whatever it is we find so adorable”.