<P> According to the publishers , it would take a single person 120 years to `` key in '' the 59 million words of the OED second edition , 60 years to proofread them , and 540 megabytes to store them electronically . As of 30 November 2005 , the Oxford English Dictionary contained approximately 301,100 main entries . Supplementing the entry headwords , there are 157,000 bold - type combinations and derivatives ; 169,000 italicized - bold phrases and combinations ; 616,500 word - forms in total , including 137,000 pronunciations ; 249,300 etymologies ; 577,000 cross-references ; and 2,412,400 usage quotations . The dictionary 's latest , complete print edition ( second edition , 1989 ) was printed in 20 volumes , comprising 291,500 entries in 21,730 pages . The longest entry in the OED2 was for the verb set , which required 60,000 words to describe some 430 senses . As entries began to be revised for the OED3 in sequence starting from M , the longest entry became make in 2000 , then put in 2007 , then run in 2011 . </P>
<P> According to the publishers , it would take a single person 120 years to `` key in '' the 59 million words of the OED second edition , 60 years to proofread them , and 540 megabytes to store them electronically . As of 30 November 2005 , the Oxford English Dictionary contained approximately 301,100 main entries . Supplementing the entry headwords , there are 157,000 bold - type combinations and derivatives ; 169,000 italicized - bold phrases and combinations ; 616,500 word - forms in total , including 137,000 pronunciations ; 249,300 etymologies ; 577,000 cross-references ; and 2,412,400 usage quotations . The dictionary 's latest , complete print edition ( second edition , 1989 ) was printed in 20 volumes , comprising 291,500 entries in 21,730 pages . The longest entry in the OED2 was for the verb set , which required 60,000 words to describe some 430 senses . As entries began to be revised for the OED3 in sequence starting from M , the longest entry became make in 2000 , then put in 2007 , then run in 2011 . </P>
how many words are in the oxford english dictionary
how many words are in the oxford english dictionary
59 million words 616,500 word - forms in total
59 million words 616,500 word - forms in total