Raise funds for children and buy a piece of the English language.

If you are struggling for birthday, wedding or even Christmas gift ideas, you could give your loved one the gift of Lincoln.

Or ‘castle’, or ‘cathedral’, ‘imp’ or even a ‘poacher’.

And if this sounds like it might stretch the budget, worry not.

Children’s communication charity I CAN are offering Lincolnshire residents a chance to be truly unique and show pride in their county by buying their own piece of the English language at www.adoptaword.com

Using the website, you can search for a word and adopt it for A year from just £20.

At time of writing, a number of Lincolnshire-themed words were still available for adoption, such as ‘castle’, ‘cathedral’, and even ‘Lincolnshire’. You could even adopt the word ‘imp’, to give as a gift to a Lincoln football fan.

All proceeds raised from the Adopt a Word campaign will go to I CAN, to help children with speech, language and communication difficulties.

Virginia Beardshaw, chief executive of I CAN, explained the fundraising scheme was inspired by the belief that words do truly matter.

She said: “Words are fundamental to all relationships.

“Embrace your love of words at Adopt a Word and you will make a real difference for the one in 10 children in the UK who find speaking and using language a daily challenge.

“There could not be a more fun and easy way to utilise the wonder that is the English.”

Well-known word lover and TV personality Stephen Fry has been very vocal about his support of the campaign and has adopted the word ‘wordy’.

In August, Mr Fry even went on to discuss the campaign on social networking site Twitter, creating a frenzy of traffic towards the site as people jostled to find the word they wanted.

More than 508 words have been sold since Mr Fry expressed his support, which raised more than £10,000 for I CAN.

Lloyd Jones, 21, a fine art student at the University of Lincoln, explained he thought the Adopt A Word campaign was a great idea. He said: “It’s such a thoughtful idea for a gift. It’s completely unique and yet it’s contributing to a good cause.

“I’d love to be the proud owner of a word for a year.

“I don’t know which word I’d want adopting for me though.

“I’d like to say something really profound, but I’d probably end up with something like ‘biscuit’ or ‘pudding’.”