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DISCOVER ALL THE WORDS OF THE WORLD

​Australia is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and a number of smaller islands. It is the largest country in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country by total area. The population of 26 million is highly urbanized and concentrated on the eastern seaboard.

The name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis ("southern land"), a name used for a hypothetical continent in the Southern Hemisphere since ancient times. Colloquial names for Australia include "Oz" and "the Land Down Under" (usually shortened to just "Down Under"). Other epithets include "the Great Southern Land", "the Lucky Country", "the Sunburnt Country", and "the Wide Brown Land". The latter two derive from Dorothea Mackellar's 1908 poem "My Country".

English is the de facto national language as Australia has no official language. Australian English has a distinctive accent and lexicon and is similar to other varieties of English in grammar and spelling. English is the only language spoken in the home for 72.7% of the population. The next most common languages spoken at home are Mandarin (2.5%), Arabic (1.4%), Cantonese (1.2%), Vietnamese (1.2%) and Italian (1.2%). A considerable proportion of first- and second-generation migrants are bilingual.

Over 250 Indigenous Australian languages are thought to have existed at the time of first European contact. Fewer than twenty are still in daily use by all age groups. About 110 others are spoken exclusively by older people. 52,000 Indigenous Australians, representing 12% of the Indigenous population, speak an Indigenous language at home. Australia has a sign language known as Auslan, which is the main language of about 10,112 of the deaf,
​
  • Australian English is spoken throughout Australia.
  • Most of the vocabulary of Australian English is shared with British English, though there are notable differences.
  • The vocabulary is drawn from many sources, including various dialects of British English as well as Gaelic, some Indigenous Australian languages, and Polynesian languages. Some elements of Aboriginal languages have been incorporated into Australian English, mainly as names for nature (for example koala, dingo, kangaroo).

Australian English contains words, expressions, idioms and slang and all are unique to the dialect. Changes to the lexicon occurred starting in the 19th century with the introduction of words, spellings, terms and usages from North American English. The words imported included some later considered to be typically Australian, such as bushwhacker and squatter. Some elements of Aboriginal languages have been adopted by Australian English—mainly as names for places, flora and fauna (for example dingo) and local culture. Many such are localized, and do not form part of general Australian use, while others, such as kangaroo, boomerang, budgerigar, wallaby and so on have become international.

The vocabulary draws heavily on diminutives and abbreviations. (a diminutive is a word that has been modified to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment.) There are over 5,000 identified diminutives in use. Litotes, such as "not bad", "not much" and "you're not wrong", are also used,

Some examples of diminutives:
  • Barbie, a barbecue, the cooking apparatus itself or the event of cooking food on a barbecue
  • Chalkie, a teacher. From chalk used on blackboards
  • Cuppa, a cup of tea or coffee
  • Devo, devastated, to be very upset over some event
  • Veggie or vegie, vegetables, generally not a vegetarian

In informal speech, incomplete comparisons are sometimes used, such as "sweet as" (as in "that car is sweet as."). "Full", "fully" or "heaps" may precede a word to act as an intensifier (as in "The waves at the beach were heaps good."). The suffix "-ly" is sometimes omitted in broader Australian English. For instance, "really good" can become "real good".

Australian spelling is closer to British than American spelling. As with British spelling, the u is retained in words such as colour, honour, labourand favour.

COMMON VOCABULARY WORDS

​BATTLER – a person with few natural advantages, who works doggedly and with little reward, who struggles for a livelihood and who displays courage.

BLUDGER – a person who avoids working, or doing their share of work, a loafer, scrounger, a hanger-on, one who does not pull his weight. Originally, a pimp.

BOGAN – an Australian term for describing someone who may be a yobbo (redneck). The major difference between the two is that yobbo tends to be used as a noun, whereas bogan can also be used adjectivally to describe objects pertaining to people who are bogans.

BIG SMOKE – any big city such as Melbourne or Sydney.

DIDGERIDOO - a wind instrument that was originally found only in Arnhem Land in northern Australia. It is a long, wooden, tubular instrument that produces a low-pitched, resonant sound with complex, rhythmic patterns but little tonal variation.

DIGGER – an Australian soldier. The term was applied during the First World War to Australian and New Zealand soldiers because so much of their time was spent digging trenches.

DINKUM or FAIR DINKUM – meaning "true", "the truth", "speaking the truth", "authentic" and related meanings, depending on context and inflection.

FAIR GO – a reasonable chance, a fair deal. Australia often sees itself as an egalitarian society, the land of the fair go, where all citizens have a right to fair treatment.

JACKAROO – a type of agricultural worker.

OUTBACK – a "remote, sparsely-populated area".
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The Logophile Lexicon: Website | Book (literary)
Defining New Ideas: Website | Book (creativity)

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