Did you know that the Dutch language consists of 400,000 to 600,000 words?

This is far more than the number of words in the Dikke Van Dale dictionary, which contains about 220,000. However, dictionaries (even the Dikke Van Dale) can never capture the full scope of a language, as informal terms, jargon, and the creativity of language users constantly produce new expressions and words. Additionally, dialects and regional differences further increase the total number of words.

Therefore, the exact number of words in the Dutch language is difficult to determine because the language is constantly evolving. It is estimated that the Dutch language has about 400,000 to 600,000 words, depending on how compound words, derivations, and technical terms are counted. Dictionaries like the Dikke Van Dale contain a selection of these, but the full extent of the language, including regional variants, new words, and informal terms, is much larger.

The English language is estimated to have more than 1 million words. As in Dutch, English dictionaries contain far fewer words. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED), which is the most comprehensive English dictionary, contains about 650,000 words.

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