A new list of the most common nouns in the English language published
in the latest Oxford dictionary reveals that English speakers are obsessed
with time, Oxford University Press (OUP) researchers said.
The word "time" topped the list, with "year" in third place and "day"
in fifth position and "week" at 17th.
"Person" reached number two on the list and men are still on top, with
"man" ranking at number seven, "child" at 12 and "woman" trailing at 14.
"Work" appears at number 16, while "rest" and "play" are nowhere to be
seen in the top 100.
"Money" appears not to be as important as people might think, weighing
in at number 65, although researchers thought this could be due to
the multitude of other related
words such as "cash".
English speakers talk about "war", 49th, far more than "peace", which
does not even feature in the top 100.
The common nouns section appears in the revised eleventh edition of the
Concise Oxford English Dictionary, considered as the definitive guide to
the evolving language.
OUP project manager Angus Stevenson said the frequency with which words
such as "time" and "man" occur could be down to the love of phrases in
English such as "I would not even pass the
time of day with him", and "time waits for no man".
"The thing that struck me when I put together this list was that 90
percent of the top 100 words were one syllable," Stevenson said.
The 10 most common nouns:
1. Time
2. Person
3. Year
4. Way
5. Day
6. Thing
7. Man
8. World
9. Life
10. Hand
(Agencies)
