OED structure

Simplified Structure of an OED Entry with Commonly Occurring Tags

Region names used by the search engine are equal to the corresponding tag identifiers, but preceded by a dollar sign ($). For example, $e refers to entries, $hw to headword lemmata, and $etym to etymologies.
Additional regions are defined as follows: $sq refers to subsidiary quotations; $eq refers to the first (non-square-bracketed) quotation in each entry.


Entry<e> or <e st=...>
   Headword Group   <hg>
      Headword Lemma      <hw>...</hw>
      IPA Pronunciation      <pr><ph>...</ph></pr>
      Part of Speech      <ps>...</ps>
      Homonym Number      <hm>...</hm>
    </hg>
  
   Variant From List   <vfl>
      Variant Date      <vd>...</vd>
      Variant Form      <vf>...</vf>
    </vfl>
  
   Etymology   <etym>
      Cited Form      <cf>...</cf>
      Sub-Etymology      <et>...</et>
    </etym>
  
   Sense (nested)   <s0 sn=...><s1 sn=...>...<s7n sn=...>
      Label      <la>
      Italic Lemma      <il>...</il>
      Quotation Paragraph      <qp>
         Quote         <q>
            Date            <qd>...</qd>
            Author            <a>...</a>
            Work            <w>...</w>
            Text            <qt>...</qt>
          </q>
       </qp>
      Sub-Entry      <sub>
         Bold Lemma         <bl>...</bl>
      Pseudo Quotation Paragraph      <qp><pqp><q>...</q></pqp></qp>
      Combinations Block      <cb><sub>...</sub></cb>
      Derivatives Block      <db><sub>...<sub></db>
       </sub>
    </s7n>...</s1></S0>
  
   Cross-Reference   <xr>
      Cross-Reference Headword      <x>...</x>
      Cross-Reference Date      <xd>...</xd>
      Cross-Reference Italic Sub-Headword      <xi>...</xi>
      Relative Cross-Reference      <rx>...</rx>
    </xr>
  
 </e>