History of Cobuild

When the first COBUILD dictionary was published in 1987, it revolutionized dictionaries for learners. It was the first of a new generation of dictionaries that were based on real examples of English - the type of English that people speak and write every day.

Collins and the University of Birmingham, led by John Sinclair, developed an electronic corpus in the 1980s, which is where these examples of English were taken from. The corpus, known as the Bank of English™, became the largest collection of English in the world and COBUILD uses the corpus to analyze the way that people really use the language.

Since 2007, Collins has been working with Heinle ELT to ensure that the COBUILD dictionaries continue to meet the needs of learners. New editions of the COBUILD dictionaries include a wide range of special features that have been developed in association with teachers, and that turn the dictionary into a rich learning resource. 

To celebrate the COBUILD Advanced Dictionary’s 21st birthday, we have launched myCOBUILD.com. myCOBUILD.com gives you the sixth edition of the COBUILD Advanced Dictionary online, and much more. The extra features of this website will help you to learn English the way you want to and will let you select the word sets that you need to know to meet your own personal needs.

Perhaps the most exciting feature of myCOBUILD.com is My word set. My word set gives you over 50 specialized vocabulary sets, and over 2,500 extra entries, which you can choose to add to your account. You can choose as many word sets as you like, so that you can search for words that you want to learn. Make COBUILD your own and learn the way you live.

Click here to go to My word set
Click here to find out more about John Sinclair
Click here to find out more about the Collins Corpus and the Bank of English