Though benevolent, Mr. Wonka’s character is not beyond reproach. His treatment of the Oompa-Loompas is paternalistic, and his desire to mold a child into a second version of himself is narcissistic. Furthermore, Mr. Wonka is unwilling to accept anyone’s foibles. He can be extremely demanding and judgmental. The four children who do not win the grand prize clearly disgust Mr. Wonka. He is short with each of them—he acts as if he invited each of them simply to prove the virtuosity of Charlie. The humble and gracious Charlie is everything Mr. Wonka is looking for.

Have you ever wondered what language Oompa-Loompas speak, or what the plural is of quadropus, or what rhymes with frobscottle? Or what the difference is between a whangdoodle and a giant wangdoodle (hint: only one is deadly)? Then the Oxford Roald Dahl Dictionary is here to help you.

Roald Dahl invented over 500 words and character names, from the famous Oompa-Loompas and whizzpopping to lesser-known Dahlismslike humplecrimp, lixivate, sogmire and zoonk, but this is the first time many of them have featured in a dictionary. It may also be the first time that the words snozzberry, snozzcumber and snozzwanger have appeared on the same page as one another, as they occur in different stories. Whereas slimy snozzcumbers grow in Giant Country, the more appetizing snozzberries are found, contrariwise, in the land of the tiny Minpins (though somehow Willy Wonka also manages to source them for his lickable wallpaper). And snozzwangers? Well, you’ll have to look in the dictionary for those.

Dahl knew how much children (and their grown-ups) love words like these, with letter combinations that are fun to pronounce, such as –ozz or –izz, or –iggle or -obble: hence creations like the fizzwiggler, the whiffswiddle and the grobblesquirt(who wouldn’t like saying grobblesquirt?), as well as gobblefunk itself, the name we now give to the lexicon of words he invented. He often built new words from old, swopping prefixes and blending syllables to create words like mispise, poppyrot and sogmire; and he particularly loved the word play of alliteration (good for insults such as grizzly old grunion) and spoonerisms, such as mideous harshland or the inspired Dahl’s Chickens (aka Charles Dickens).

All these words, and many like them, feature in the new dictionary. But a Dahl dictionary needs to help readers young and old to navigate through the whole of Dahl’s world, so it also explains unusual words you may encounter there, such as steeplejack and rapscallion, as well as more humdrum words which have special significance in the stories, such as the humble alarm-clock and egg-beater (used in unlikely ways by witches and giants respectively). And if you are a budding Matilda, it will also help you to find the perfect word to describe Dahl’s characters, whether they be hirsute (Mr Twit), asinine (Mr Wormwood) or oviform (Knids) – and to learn some very rude words used by giants (let’s just say bopmuggered).

So don’t be biffsquiggled any longer! Here are some key Dahl words from the dictionary:

If you feel biffsquiggled, you are confused or puzzled. The word biffsquiggled is made up of biff ‘punch’ and squiggled, as when you are biffsquiggled, you feel as if your brain is reeling from a punch and is as muddled as a squiggly piece of doodling.

Frobscottle is a green fizzy drink that giants drink instead of water. Unlike snozzcumbers it tastes delicious. The bubbles in frobscottle sink down rather than rise up, so if you drink a lot, you end up whizzpopping.

If you gobblefunk with words, you play around with them and invent new words or meanings. The word gobblefunk sounds a bit like gobbledegook, a kind of language that some grown-ups use that is full of meaningless words.

A human bean is what the giants of Giant Country call a human. (It sounds a bit like human being, but tastier.) Most giants eat human beans, but the BFG is a vegetarian giant, so he only eats snozzcumbers.

A snozzcumber is a knobbly vegetable like an enormous cucumber with black and white stripes. Snozzcumbers taste disgusting but they are all the BFG has to eat, as he refuses to hunt human beans like other giants.

Phizz-whizzing and whizzpopping may sound similar, but they mean very different things! Something that is phizz-whizzing is excellent or splendid. Whizzpopping, on the other hand, is what happens when air comes out of your bottom with a popping sound (as when you drink a lot of frobscottle). Giants find whizzpopping more socially acceptable than burping.

Scrumdiddlyumptious food is utterly delicious. The Fleshlumpeating Giant is very keen to eat the Queen, as he thinks she will have ‘an especially scrumdiddlyumptious flavour.’

A trogglehumper is one of the very worst nightmares you can have. (Words that Dahl invented that start with trog- always mean unpleasant things!)

Zozimus is what dreams are made of. The BFG whisks zozimus with an egg-beater until it forms bubbles just like soapy water.

Behind Charlie’s meek and virtuous exterior lies an inner strength and courage. He faces the new challenges and mysteries of the factory with the same bravery he employs to overcome the adversity of his everyday life. He finds all of the adventures in the chocolate factory to be wild and stimulating. While other characters cringe at the speed of the boat as it tears down the chocolate river, Charlie demurely embraces it, clutching to Grandpa Joe’s legs for stability and enjoying the ride of his life.