The second edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was published in 1989. It was issued by Oxford University Press in 20 printed volumes and combined the original dictionary with material from two major supplements, while also incorporating extensive revisions and additions.
The dictionary’s first edition was completed in 1928, decades after work began on what was initially called the New English Dictionary on Historical Principles. Because English continued to change, the Oxford team published supplements in 1972 and 1976 before producing the much larger second edition. Editors including John Simpson and Edmund Weiner helped bring the work together.
The OED is more than a list of definitions: it traces words historically, records changing meanings, gives pronunciations, and documents usage with dated quotations. This is why the OED’s publication history is often confused with later digital updates. The online OED has continued to receive revisions since the 1990s, but those updates are not a new numbered print edition. The 1989 publication remains the recognized second edition.