Will the Oxford dictionary go online?

Oxford University Press, which publishes the Oxford English Dictionary, is considering putting the entire publication online.

The publisher is apparently toying with the idea, with so many users preferring to look words up on the dictionary’s online version rather than in print. The digital version currently receives about two million hits a month from subscribers.

A spokesperson told The Age that, “At present we are experiencing increasing demand for the online product… However, a print version will certainly be considered if there is sufficient demand at the time of publication.”

Nigel Portwood, chief executive of Oxford University Press, told The Sunday Times that the newest version may not end up in print at all. “The print dictionary market is just disappearing. It is falling away by tens of percent a year,” he said.