ABSTRACT: The aim of this paper is two‐fold. Firstly, it reports on the lexical characteristics of a hitherto little studied ‘New English’ variety—South African Indian English. It points to lexical affinities with, and divergences from, other varieties of English in South Africa, at least one of which has been well studied in terms of its lexis. It also focuses on lexical similarities between English in India and the South African dialect under scrutiny. Preliminary comparisons with pidgins and creoles world‐wide as well as with other expatriate Indian Englishes are offered. Secondly, the study suggests some useful ways in which a lexicographer of a New English variety that has arisen out of a process of language shift might proceed, especially in situations involving several ‘ancestral’ languages, and consequently several sublects varying according to domain, speaker background, formality etc.