More than 170,000 words are currently used in the English language, so it’s almost impossible to know them all.
We all like to impress our friends, family and teachers with our knowledge of obscure words (OK, OK – some of us more than others). But there are words you almost certainly won’t have heard of. These are the words in what the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) calls ‘Band 1’, and they are so rare they are unlikely to ever appear in modern text. The OED says that these words “may be obscure technical terms or terms restricted to occasional historical use”.
But do you know their meaning? Take our quiz and find out.
Check out more quizzes and articles on wonderful words below:
The deviously difficult dead word quiz
Do you know what words we no longer use? Take our quiz to find out.
Do you remember this decade's words of the year?
It's what selfie, youthquake and toxic have in common
Five words that have changed their meaning
Why we used to call serious people 'silly' - and other language curiosities.
