Beyonce and Destiny's Child Enter the Dictionary With Bootylicious

The term "bootylicious," made widely known by the Destiny's Child hit song of the same name (Listen) that hit #1 on the pop singles chart in 2001, has been added to the Oxford English Dictionary online. The word means "shapely, voluptuous, especially with reference to the buttocks."

The songwriting credits go to Beyoncé Knowles, Rob Fusari, Falonte Moore and Stevie Nicks. The song included a sample from Stevie Nicks' classic "Edge of Seventeen." Beyonce is considered to bear primary responsibility for using the term as the song's title. It is not, however, the first time the word "bootylicious" was used in the words to a recorded song. That honor is believed to belong to Snoop Dogg for his 1992 couplet:

Your bark was loud, but your bite wasn't vicious, And them rhymes you were kickin were quite bootylicious."

When contacted about "bootylicious" entering the dictionary, Beyonce was apparently less than impressed. She told the UK's TV Hits magazine "I wrote the song, but I wish there was another word I could have come up with if I was going to have a word in the dictionary."

Album cover © Columbia Records.