CREDIT crunch and double-dip have entered the new edition of the Oxford English Dictionary.

Internet terms and wi-fi have also been added to the tome by Oxford University Press, based in Walton Street.

They are among 45,437 new words and meanings included in the latest edition.

Principal editor Graeme Diamond said: “Because we are quite cautious about adding new terms to the OED, we need a word to have led a bit of a life before we write its biography.

“We tend to have been tracking new words for a considerable period before we publish them for the first time.”

Acronyms including LOL and OMG – texting shorthand for ‘laugh out loud’ and ‘oh my God’, are also included. But readers should not expect too many impenetrable Internet slang expressions in future editions, Mr Diamond said. He added: “This writing forms a small proportion of the English language at large but English is a tolerant and hardy beast which has always absorbed new forms of expression, from whatever source.”