how many english words are there

The English language has over 1 million words in total, according to research from Harvard University and Google conducted in 2010. This number is expected to grow by about 8,500 words each year due to new terms being created and borrowed from other languages. However, this count includes different forms of the same word, archaic terms no longer in use, and specialized vocabularies. Specifically, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), one of the most comprehensive sources, defines about 600,000 word forms, with approximately 171,476 words currently in common use. Dictionaries differ in their coverage, with Merriam-Webster listing around 470,000 words and others like the Collins English Dictionary covering up to 750,000 words. The complexity in counting English words arises from new words being coined, words becoming obsolete, dialectal variations, slang, and difficulties in defining what counts as a separate word versus a form or phrase. Consequently, estimates of total English words range from roughly 470,000 to over 1 million, with the most comprehensive estimates placing the count at over one million words overall.