How the words we teach English language learners changed
This article explores how the 'General Service List' of essential English vocabulary has evolved between 1953 and 2023. It highlights a shift from concrete, hands-on nouns to more abstract, professional, and modern terminology.
Why it matters
Understanding how language lists change provides insight into how societal priorities and global communication needs have shifted over the last 70 years.
Look through the words scattered around this page. Every one of them is among the most commonly used words in the English language.
They come from a 2023 list of about 2,800 words, shown to cover over 90% of general English use, intended for people learning the language.
This 2023 list is an update of an earlier one, made in 1953, which identified about 2,300 words as the essential vocabulary to everyday life at the time.
Between the two lists, 70 years apart, about 600 words were dropped, and over 1,100 were added. The rest remained as is.
Some of the changes make immediate sense: Telegraph dropped out; computer was added, along with website and blog. Tobacco was replaced by cigarette. Motherhood became mom, and dad was added too, though fatherhood was never on the list to begin with. The world changed and vocabulary surely followed.
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