OED next goes for big, fat 'tuhao' and 'dama'

'Tuhao', a Chinese word, whose definition is similar to the English word 'bling', may make it to the next year's edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).

"If its (tuhao's) influence continues, it is very likely to appear on our updated list of words," the Shanghai Daily quoted Julie Kleeman, project manager with the OED editing team, as telling the Beijing Youth Daily.

Kleeman said 'tuhao' has some similarities with the English word 'bling' that refers to ostentatious clothing or jewellery.

In Chinese, 'tu' means uncouth and 'hao' means rich and the word 'tuhao' was traditionally used to describe rich people in rural areas who throw their weight around.

But in recent times, the word has been used to describe people who spend money in an irrational manner.

According to the Shanghai Daily report, 'tuhao' "gained credence in September with the launch of Apple's new gold-coloured iPhone, an item loved by China's nouveau riche" and the colour soon came to be known as "tuhao gold".

"The word is now often used by the online community to refer to people who have the cash but lack the class to go with it," the report said.

According to Kleeman, two other Chinese words - 'hukou' and 'dama' - might also make it to the OED next year.

'Hukou' means household registration and came to be commonly used in recent years in connection with corruption cases in China.

'Dama' means middle-aged women, and became popular in the Western media in May this year after a lot of women in China bought record amounts of gold between April and June and became the driving force behind the global gold rush when prices were down.