Vuvuzela among new Oxford Dictionary of English entries

Vuvuzelas came to prominence in the World Cup and made an impression on the English language

The World Cup and the credit crunch have all influenced the latest edition of the Oxford Dictionary of English.

The vuvuzela, a horn instrument blown by football fans during the World Cup in South Africa, is one new entry.

And recent financial problems led to the introduction of toxic debt - debt which has a high risk of default.

The dictionary - separate from the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) and first published in 1998 - has more than 2,000 new entries.

It aims to reflect current trends in the usage of English words.

The 2005 edition included the phrase Ruby Murray, as rhyming slang for a curry, and chav - a pejorative term used to describe a "young lower-class person typified by brash and loutish behaviour and the wearing of [real or imitation] designer clothes".

In this third edition of the dictionary, climate change issues have given us carbon capture and storage - the process of trapping and storing carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels.

Geo-engineering - the manipulation of environmental processes in an attempt to counteract the effects of global warming - has also made it into the dictionary, as has quantitative easing - the introduction of new money into the national supply by a central bank.

And the internet has produced a rich supply of words and phrases.

New entries include social media - websites and applications used for social networking - as well as microblogging - the posting of short entries on a blog.

Other terms included in the latest edition of the dictionary include staycation - a holiday spent in one's home country - and national treasure - someone or something regarded as emblematic of a nation's cultural heritage.