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SEOUL, Jan. 8 (UPI) — The Oxford English Dictionary has added eight words drawn from South Korean culture in its latest quarterly update, reflecting the continued influence of Korean food, customs and everyday life on global English usage.

In a press release issued Wednesday, Oxford Languages unveiled the newly added words, highlighting how Korean-language terms have entered English alongside the worldwide popularity of K-culture.

Among the additions are ajumma, a term commonly used to refer to a middle-aged or older woman; sunbae, meaning a senior colleague or mentor; jjimjilbang, a large communal bathhouse offering saunas, lounges and sleeping areas; and officetel, a blend of “office” and “hotel” describing mixed-use residential buildings common in South Korean cities.

Food-related entries include ramyeon, Korea’s version of instant noodles, and bingsu, a shaved-ice dessert topped with ingredients such as red beans, fruit or condensed milk.

The English phrase Korean barbecue was also added for the first time. While specific terms for grilled meat dishes such as samgyeopsal and galbi were already included in the dictionary, this year’s update marks the first formal appearance of the broader English term. Its earliest citation dates to a 1938 article in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

Another new entry, haenyeo, refers to the traditional female free divers associated with Jeju Island, whose seafood-harvesting practices have drawn international attention for their cultural significance.

The update continues a recent pattern of Korean-origin words entering the dictionary. Seven Korean words were also added in 2025, following a larger group of 26 terms introduced in September 2021 amid a period of heightened global interest in Korean popular culture.

In an analysis cited by Oxford Languages, scholar Simon Barnes-Sadler examined how Korean-origin words have entered the dictionary in relation to the rise of hallyu, or the Korean Wave.

“While words of Korean origin have been attested in English texts stretching back to the nineteenth century, a large number of such words have been added since 1997, the year to which the beginning of the Korean Wave is conventionally attributed,” Barnes-Sadler wrote.

He added that many Korean-origin words still occur relatively infrequently in the English-language sources tracked by the OED, raising questions about how quickly their emergence will translate into sustained everyday usage.

First published in 1884, the Oxford English Dictionary is widely regarded as the authoritative record of the English language. It contains more than 500,000 words and phrases from past and present English usage and traces their development through millions of quotations drawn from books, academic sources, news reports and social media.

High street retailers Claire’s and The Original Factory Shop are being put into administration, risking 2,500 jobs.

It comes amid a turbulent time for Claire’s, popular with tweens for its brightly coloured accessories, which was seeking a buyer after its US owner filed for bankruptcy last year.

Modella Capital, which owns both chains, said the retailers would enter insolvency proceedings across the UK and Ireland. The administration will give them breathing space to find a new buyer.

Modella said tough trading conditions and “alarming” low Christmas trading left both in a “vulnerable” position.

Claire’s has 154 stores and 1,355 staff, while The Original Factory shop has 140 stores and 1,220 staff.

Modella purchased Claire’s in September, six weeks after its previous collapse into administration, in a deal which saw around 1,000 job losses at the retailer, while 145 stores closed.

The investment firm has owned The Original Factory Shop since early last year.

“This has been a very tough decision,” said Modella. “We have worked intensively in an effort to save both businesses, having made last-ditch attempts to rescue them, but neither has a realistic possibility of trading profitably again.”

Modella said that the chains were “highly vulnerable” even before it bought them. It also blamed challenges including the climate on the high street, which it said “remains extremely challenging”, and government policy.

The two shops are the latest casualties of a tough trading environment which has seen high street sales fall as shoppers move online, ditching old favourites facing the high cost of maintaining brick-and-mortar stores.

“A combination of very weak consumer confidence, highly adverse government fiscal policies and continued cost inflation is causing many established and much-loved businesses to suffer badly,” Modella said.

The investment firm has become increasingly prominent on Britain’s high streets, having bought WH Smith’s high street chain last year and taken over arts and crafts retailer Hobbycraft a year earlier.

Modella is the latest business to criticise measures by Chancellor Rachel Reeves which have seen operating costs rise, making trading even more difficult as high inflation – the price at which prices rise – squeezes household budgets.

Her last Budget hiked taxes, while her previous Budget increased the minimum wage and raised employer National Insurance contributions.

One London pub owner warned he may have to close after tax rises announced in the last Budget.

James Fitzgerald, landlord of the Thatched House in Hammersmith, said his costs have risen by £22,000 over the past year – with the increase in National Insurance a major factor.

The Treasury was asked to comment.

The last time Villa lifted silverware – beating Leeds 3-0 in the League Cup – Prodigy’s Firestarter had knocked Take That’s cover of How Deep Is Your Love off the No.1 spot in the charts and Wallace and Gromit’s A Close Shave had just won an Oscar.

David Beckham was yet to make his England debut while Cash, Youri Tielemans, Boubacar Kamara and Emi Buendia were not born.

It has been a long wait, with Villa losing two FA Cup finals and one League Cup final since.

Emery, a Europa League winner with Sevilla and Villarreal in previous roles, stated on his first day in charge the main goal was to win a trophy. Last season’s FA Cup semi-final defeat to eventual winners Crystal Palace still stings.

A Europa Conference League semi-final defeat by Olympiakos 18 months ago and the thrilling Champions League quarter-final exit to Paris St-Germain in April show they are getting closer.

“The semi-final in the Conference League and Champions League quarter-final, they were big nights for us, big moments in which we haven’t delivered,” captain John McGinn told reporters.

“Every time we go into a big game now, we have that determination in the back of our heads to prove this team we have built over the past five or six years is worth more than a quarter-final, worth more than a semi-final.

“The determination, I can feel it this year. I can feel we want to prove a point. I think until we do that, there will always be questions asked. As captain, you feel that probably twice as much, but when that day finally comes, you will feel it positively, twice as much.”