Meet the new last word in English: zyzzyva

In its latest update, the Oxford English Dictionary identified more than  600 words, phrases and senses that have entered common parlance.

They include "zyzzyva", a genus of tropical weevils native to South America. The word replaces zythum -- an ancient Egyptian malt beer -- as the  OED's final entry.

The name was apparently coined by the US entomologist Thomas Lincoln Casey,  who described it in a 1922 work, the OED said.

"In any case, zyzzyva owes much of its currency in English to its notoriety  as the last entry in various dictionaries, the ranks of which now include the  OED," it said.

The quarterly update includes "post-truth", previously announced by the OED  as its word of the year for 2016 following Britain's Brexit referendum and  Donald Trump's presidential victory.

"Brexit" itself also made into the dictionary last year, meeting the OED's  criterion that a new word, phrase or sense of a word must have featured in a  variety of printed sources over several years.

Other new senses this time include "thing", as in "a genuine or established  phenomenon or practice", often used when you're incredulous about something.

The OED said the earliest citation of this new sense was from a 2000  episode of the US TV drama "The West Wing": "Did you know that 'leaf peeping'  was a thing?'"

Just in time for this year's Wimbledon tournament are 50 new terms relating  to tennis, such as "forced error", "chip and charge" and "career slam".

Further additions to the English lexicon are chana dal, the Hindi phrase  for chickpeas, and doenjang, a paste made from fermented soya beans used in  Korean cookery.

A gin daisy is a cocktail made with gin, lemon juice and (usually)  grenadine.

Drink enough gin daisies and you may well be overcome by hygge, the Danish  term for "a quality of coziness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a  feeling of contentment or well-being". (AFP)