English takes ‘time’ as No. 1 spoken noun

LONDON – For those who think the world is obsessed with “time,” an Oxford dictionary has added support to the theory in announcing that the word is the noun used most often in the English language.

“The” is the most commonly used word overall, followed by “be,” “to,” “of,” “and,” “a,” “in,” “that,” “have” and “I,” according to the “Concise Oxford English Dictionary.”

On the list of top 25 nouns, “time” is followed by other movement indicators with “year” in third place, “day” in fifth and “week” at No. 17.

The dictionary used the Oxford English Corpus – a research project into English in the 21st century – to come up with the lists.

Among nouns, “person” is ranked at No. 2, with “man” at No. 7 and “woman” at No. 14. “Child” appears at No. 12. “Government” appears at No. 20, while “war,” at No. 49, trumps “peace,” which did not make the top 100.

The list of top 25 nouns: “time,” “person,” “year,” “way,” “day,” “thing,” “man,” “world,” “life,” “hand,” “part,” “child,” “eye,” “woman,” “place,” “work,” “week,” “case,” “point,” “government,” “company,” “number,” “group,” “problem” and “fact.”