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Merriam-Webster’s Words of the Year 2019

Merriam Webster: 12.09.2019

Our Word of the Year for 2019 is they. It reflects a surprising fact: even a basic term—a personal pronoun—can rise to the top of our data. Although our lookups are often driven by events in the news, the dictionary is also a primary resource for information about language itself, and the shifting use of they has been the subject of increasing study and commentary in recent years. Lookups for they increased by 313% in 2019 over the previous year.

English famously lacks a gender-neutral singular pronoun to correspond neatly with singular pronouns like everyone or someone, and as a consequence they has been used for this purpose for over 600 years.

More recently, though, they has also been used to refer to one person whose gender identity is nonbinary, a sense that is increasingly common in published, edited text, as well as social media and in daily personal interactions between English speakers. There's no doubt that its use is established in the English language, which is why it was added to the Merriam-Webster.com dictionary this past September.

2 quid pro quo

(noun) “Something given or received for something else,” or "A deal arranging a quid pro quo.”

3 impeach

(verb) “To charge with a crime or misdemeanor” and “To cast doubt on.”

4 crawdad

(noun) Refers to the aquatic animal that looks like a small lobster and lives in rivers and streams—i.e. to what's also known as a crawfish or crayfish.

5 egregious

(adjective) Modern English: "Conspicuously bad;" Original meaning: "Distinguished" or "Eminent."

6 the

(definite article) Pronounced /ðə/ before words that begin with consonants ("the governor") and /ði:/ before words that begin with a vowel; /ði:/ can also indicate emphasis or suggest uniqueness (THE Ohio State University).

7 snitty

(adjective) Disagreeably ill-tempered.

8 tergiversation

(noun) “Evasion of straightforward action or clear-cut statement,” or “Desertion of a cause, position, party, or faith.”

9 camp

(noun) "A style or mode of personal or creative expression that is absurdly exaggerated and often fuses elements of high and popular culture" or "Something so outrageously artificial, affected, inappropriate, or out-of-date as to be considered amusing."

10 exculpate

(verb) To clear from alleged fault or guilt.

2019 Word of the Year is “(My) Pronouns,”

Word of the Decade is Singular “They”

American Dialect Society: 1.03.2020

In its 30th annual words of the year vote, the American Dialect Society voted for “(my) pronouns” as its Word of the Year (2019) and singular “they” as its Word of the Decade (2010-2019).

“(My) pronouns” was recognized for its use as an introduction for sharing one’s et of personal pronouns (as in “pronouns: she/her”), while singular “they” was recognized for its growing use to refer to a known person whose gender identity is nonbinary. Singular “they” was previously selected by the ADS as the 2015 Word of the Year.

WORD OF THE YEAR (2019)

* (my) pronouns: introduction for sharing one’s set of personal pronouns (“pronouns: she/her”) 161

ok boomer: retort to someone older expressing out-of-touch or condescending views 88

cancel: withdraw support from someone considered problematic or unacceptable 10

Karen: stereotype of a complaining, self-important white woman, typically a member of Generation X (also “Generation Karen”) 34

WORD OF THE DECADE (2010-2019)

POLITICAL WORD OF THE YEAR

MOST USEFUL/MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED

SLANG/INFORMAL WORD OF THE YEAR

MOST CREATIVE

EUPHEMISM OF THE YEAR

DIGITAL WORD OF THE YEAR

All previous years’ winners are listed here.

The Collins Word Of The Year 2019 Is... CLIMATE STRIKE

Collins Dictionary Blog: 11.07.2019

Climate strike has been announced as the Collins Word of the Year 2019.

climate strike (ˈklaɪmɪt ˌstraɪk) noun: a form of protest in which people absent themselves from education or work in order to join demonstrations demanding action to counter climate change.

Discover the rest of the words in this year’s shortlist.

bopo (ˈbəʊpəʊ) noun also spelt BoPo: a movement advocating the view that people should be proud of the appearance of their bodies, or any aspect of this, especially size

cancel (ˈkænsəl) verb: to publicly cease to acknowledge a person, organization, etc, esp on social media, in order to express disapproval of their activities or opinions

deepfake (ˈdiːpˌfeɪk) noun, verb: (noun) a technique by which a digital image or video can be superimposed onto another, which maintains the appearance of an unedited image or video; (verb) to superimpose one digital image or video onto another so that it maintains the appearance of an unedited image or video

double down (ˈdʌbəl daʊn) phrasal verb: to reinforce one’s commitment to a venture or idea in spite of opposition or risk

entryist (ˈɛntrɪɪst) noun, adjective: (noun) a person who joins an existing political party with the intention of changing its principles and policies; (adjective) relating to the practice of joining an existing political party with the intention of changing its principles and policies

hopepunk (ˈhəʊpˌpʌŋk) noun: a literary and artistic movement that celebrates the pursuit of positive aims in the face of adversity

influencer (ˈɪnflʊənsə) noun: a person who uses social media to promote lifestyle choices, commercial products, etc to his or her followers

nonbinary (ˌnɒnˈbaɪnərɪ) adjective. Also spelt non-binary: relating to a gender or sexual identity that does not conform to the binary categories of male or female, heterosexual or homosexual

rewilding (riːˈwaɪldɪŋ) noun: the practice of returning areas of land to a wild state, including the reintroduction of animal species that are no longer naturally found there

The Collins Word Of The Year 2019 Is... CLIMATE STRIKE

Languages OUP: Nov 2019

The Oxford Word of the Year is a word or expression shown through usage evidence to reflect the ethos, mood, or preoccupations of the passing year, and have lasting potential as a term of cultural significance.

Climate emergency is defined as ‘a situation in which urgent action is required to reduce or halt climate change and avoid potentially irreversible environmental damage resulting from it.’

Word Of The Year 2019: Shortlist

The Oxford Word of the Year 2018 is… Toxic

@OxfordWords

The Oxford Word of the Year 2018 is… toxic.

Oxford Dictionaries: 11.15.2018

The adjective toxic is defined as ‘poisonous’ and first appeared in English in the mid-seventeenth century from the medieval Latin toxicus, meaning ‘poisoned’ or ‘imbued with poison’.

But the word’s deadly history doesn’t start there. The medieval Latin term was in turn borrowed from the Latin toxicum, meaning ‘poison’, which has its origins in the Greek toxikon pharmakon – lethal poison used by the ancient Greeks for smearing on the points of their arrows. Interestingly, it is not pharmakon, the word for poison, that made the leap into Latin here, but toxikon, which comes from the Greek word for ‘bow’, toxon.

The Oxford Word of the Year is a word or expression that is judged to reflect the ethos, mood, or preoccupations of the passing year, and have lasting potential as a term of cultural significance.

In 2018, toxic added many strings to its poisoned bow becoming an intoxicating descriptor for the year’s most talked about topics. It is the sheer scope of its application, as found by our research, that made toxic the stand-out choice for the Word of the Year title.

Our data shows that, along with a 45% rise in the number of times it has been looked up on oxforddictionaries.com, over the last year the word toxic has been used in an array of contexts, both in its literal and more metaphorical senses.

Drawn from our corpus, the top 10 toxic collocates for the year – that is, words habitually used alongside toxic – are indicative of this.

Word of the Year 2018 shortlist.

Big Dick Energy (BDE)

Cakeism

Gammon

Gaslighting verb

Incel noun

Orbiting

Overtourism

Techlash

READ MORE >>

Collins Dictionary Names 'Single-use' 2018 Word of the Year via The Guardian

#CollinsWOTY

'Single-use' named 2018 word of the year

Guardian: 11.06.2018 by Alison Flood

Collins Dictionary picks term referring to products made to be used once and thrown away as word of the year after rise in environmental awareness

Single-use, a term referring to products – often made of plastic –that are made to be used once and thrown away, has been named Collins Dictionary’s word of the year for 2018.

Collins, whose lexicographers monitor a 4.5bn-word corpus to come up with an annual list of new and notable words, said images such as those seen in the BBC’s Blue Planet II, in which albatrosses unwittingly feed their chicks plastic, had contributed to the increased usage of the term single-use. It also pointed to increased public awareness of the problems that single-use products bring. The European parliament recently backed a ban on single-use plastics such as straws, cotton swabs, disposable plates and bottles and cutlery; it is expected to come into effect in 2021. The UK is also planning to introduce a tax on plastic packaging.

“Images of plastic adrift in the most distant oceans, such as straws, bottles and bags, have led to a global campaign to reduce their use,” said the dictionary. “The word [single-use] has seen a four-fold increase since 2013.”

The dictionary defines single-use as “made to be used once only”, calling it “a term that describes items whose unchecked proliferation are blamed for damaging the environment and affecting the food chain”. It follows 2017’s word of the year, “fake news”, and 2016’s selection, Brexit. 

The 10 words nominated for Collins Dictionary word of 2018

Backstop

Floss

Gammon

Gaslight

MeToo

Plogging

Single-use

VAR

Vegan

Whitewash

READ MORE >>

See the full shortlist for 2018. Join the conversation using the hashtag #CollinsWOTY.

Words of the Year :: 2017

Words of the Year 2017

American Dialect: 2017

Nominations for Words of the Year can be submitted all year long. Winner announced in January 2018.

All previous winners are listed here.

Word of the Year 2017

Oxford Dictionaries: Dec 2017

As 2017 draws to a close, we turn to language to help us mark where we have been, how far we have come, and where we are heading.

One word has been judged as not only reflective of the ethos, mood, or preoccupations of this past year, but as having lasting potential as a word of cultural significance.

The Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2017 is… youthquake.

The noun, youthquake, is defined as ‘a significant cultural, political, or social change arising from the actions or influence of young people’.

Word of the Year shortlist

Antifa

Broflake

Gorpcore

Kompromat

Milkshake Duck

Newsjacking

Unicorn

White fragility

READ MORE >>

Merriam-Webster's 2017 Words of the Year

Merriam Webster: Dec 2017

Feminism, dotard, gaffe, syzygy, and 6 more of the top lookups in 2017

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year for 2017 is feminism. The word was a top lookup throughout the year, with several spikes that corresponded to various news reports and events. The general rise in lookups tells us that many people are interested in this word; specific spikes give us insight into some of the reasons why.

Feminism spiked following news coverage of the Women's March on Washington, DC in January (and other related marches held around the country and internationally), and follow-up discussions regarding whether the march was feminist, and what kind of feminism was represented by organizers and attendees

2 Complicit

3 Recuse

4 Empathy

5 Dotard

6 Syzygy

7 Gyro

8 Federalism

9 Hurricane

10 Gaffe

READ MORE>>

THE COLLINS WORD OF THE YEAR 2017 IS...FAKE NEWS

Collins Dictionary: Dec 2017

It has been derided by the leader of the free world and accused of influencing elections, but ‘fake news’ is today legitimate news as it is named Collins’ Word of the Year 2017.

The word saw an unprecedented usage increase 365% since 2016.

As defined by Collins, ‘fake news’ means “false, often sensational, information disseminated under the guise of news reporting”.

Shortlist: 

Antifa

corbynmania

cuffing season

Echo Chamber

fidget spinner

gender-fluid

gig economy

insta

Unicorn

READ MORE >>

Word of the Year 2017

Dictionary.com: Dec 2017

As 2017 comes to a close, it’s time for us to reflect on the words that impacted all of us this year—for better or for worse. At Dictionary.com, the Word of the Year serves as a symbol of the year’s most meaningful events and lookup trends.

Our 2017 Word of the Year Is Complicit.

Complicit means “choosing to be involved in an illegal or questionable act, especially with others; having partnership or involvement in wrongdoing.” Or, put simply, it means being, at some level, responsible for something . . . even if indirectly.

═════════►

This year, displays of extreme weather have made us all more aware of the widespread destruction that climate change can wreak. Rightfully so, the terms climate change, global warming, and carbon dioxide all showed up in our trending searches this year.

The events in Charlottesville caused lookups for white supremacist, nazi, neo-nazi, anti-fascist, and antifa to trend in our data.  READ MORE >>

Oxford Word of the Year 2016 :: post-truth

Word of the Year 2016 is...

Oxford Dictionaries: 11.16.2016

After much discussion, debate, and research, the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2016 is post-truth – an adjective defined as ‘relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief’.

Why was this chosen?

The concept of post-truth has been in existence for the past decade, but Oxford Dictionaries has seen a spike in frequency this year in the context of the EU referendum in the United Kingdom and the presidential election in the United States. It has also become associated with a particular noun, in the phrase post-truth politics. 

Here are the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year shortlist choices:

adulting

alt-right

Brexiteer

chatbot

coulrophobia

glass cliff  

hygge

Latinx

woke

READ MORE @

Merriam-Webster Announces "Culture" As 2014 Word Of The Year

Merriam-Webster Announces "Culture" As 2014 Word Of The Year

PRNewswire: 12.15.1014

Merriam-Webster Inc., America's leading dictionary publisher, has announced its top ten Words of the Year for 2014. This year's list was compiled by analyzing the top lookups in the online dictionary at Merriam-Webster.com and focusing on the words that showed the greatest increase in lookups this year as compared to last year. The results, based on approximately 100 million lookups a month, shed light on topics and ideas that sparked the nation's interest in 2014.

The Word of the Year, with the greatest number of lookups and a significant increase over last year, is culture.  Culture is not associated with any one event, but instead dominated the headlines this year, on topics ranging from "celebrity culture" to "rape culture" to "company culture."  In years past, lookups for the word culture spiked in the fall, as students encountered the word in titles and descriptions of courses and books, but this year lookups have moved from seasonal to persistent, as culture has become a term frequently used in discussions of social phenomena.

"Culture is a word that we seem to be relying on more and more. It allows us to identify and isolate an idea, issue, or group with seriousness," explains Peter Sokolowski, Editor at Large for Merriam-Webster. "And it's efficient: we talk about the 'culture' of a group rather than saying 'the typical habits, attitudes, and behaviors' of that group. So we think that it may be the increased use of this newer sense of the word culture that is catching people's attention and driving the volume of lookups."

Merriam-Webster's Words of the Year for 2014:

1.     Culture

2.     Nostalgia

3.     Insidious

4.     Legacy

5.     Feminism

6.     Je ne sais quoi

7.     Innovation

8.     Surreptitious

9.     Autonomy

10.    Morbidity

Oxford Dictionary - Word of the Year :: Vape

Oxford Dictionary - Word of the Year :: Vape

The Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year is… vape

Oxford Dictionaries: 11.17.2014

As 2014 draws to a close, it’s time to look back and see which words have been significant throughout the past twelve months, and to announce the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year. Without further ado, we can exclusively reveal that the Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year 2014 is….

Vape

Although there is a shortlist of strong contenders, as you’ll see below, it was vape that emerged victorious as Word of the Year.

What does vape mean?

So, what does vape mean? It originated as an abbreviation of vapour or vaporize. The OxfordDictionaries.com definition was added in August 2014: the verb means ‘to inhale and exhale the vapour produced by an electronic cigarette or similar device’, while both the device and the action can also be known as a vape. The associated noun vaping is also listed.

Why was vape chosen?

As e-cigarettes (or e-cigs) have become much more common, so vape has grown significantly in popularity. You are thirty times more likely to come across the word vape than you were two years ago, and usage has more than doubled in the past year.

Usage of vape peaked in April 2014 – as the graph below indicates – around the time that the UK’s first ‘vape café’ (The Vape Lab in Shoreditch, London) opened its doors, and protests were held in response to New York City banning indoor vaping. In the same month, the issue of vaping was debated by The Washington Post, the BBC, and the British newspaper The Telegraph, amongst others.

The shortlist

Here are the words that came close, but didn’t quite make it as Word of the Year:

Bae

Budtender

Contactless

Indyref

Normcore

Slacktivism

READ MORE !