Word of the year


The word of the year, sometimes capitalized as "Word of the Year" and abbreviated "WOTY", refers to any of various assessments as to the most important word or expression in the public sphere during a specific year.
The German tradition Wort des Jahres was started in 1971. In 1999 it was supplemented with the Austrian word of the year to express the pluricentric nature of German and its multiple standards varieties.
The American Dialect Society's Word of the Year is the oldest English-language version, and the only one that is announced after the end of the calendar year, determined by a vote of independent linguists, and not tied to commercial interest. However, various other organizations also announce Words of the Year for a variety of purposes.

American Dialect Society

Since 1990, the American Dialect Society has designated one or more words or terms to be the "Word of the Year" in the United States. In addition to the "Word of the Year", the society also selects words in other categories such as "Most Outrageous," "Most Creative," and "Most Likely to Succeed."
YearWord of the YearNotes
1990bushlips
1991mother of all –
1992Not!
1993information superhighway
1994Tie: cyber and morph
1995Tie: World Wide Web and newt
1996momEmergence of voting blocs like "soccer moms".
1997millennium bug
1998e-
1999Y2K
2000chadCause of a recount in the 2000 US election
20019-11, 9/11 or September 11
2002weapons of mass destruction or WMD
2003metrosexual
2004red/''blue/purple statesBecame a term used to describe the political position of a state. Popularized during the 2004 Democratic Keynote address given by Barack Obama
2005truthiness
2006to be plutoed, to pluto
2007subprimeSubprime mortgage crisis that started in 2007
2008bailoutBank bailout of 2008
2009tweet
2010app
2011occupy
2012#hashtag
2013because
2014#blacklivesmatter
2015they
2016dumpster fire
2017fake news
2018tender-age shelter
2019 pronouns
2020Covid
2021Insurrection
2022-ussy
2023enshittification
2024rawdog
2025slop''

Australian National Dictionary Centre

The Australian National Dictionary Centre has announced a Word of the Year each since 2006. The word is chosen by the editorial staff, and is selected on the basis of having come to some prominence in the Australian social and cultural landscape during the year. The Word of the Year is often reported in the media as being Australia's word of the year, but the word is not always an Australian word.
YearWord of the Year
2006podcast
2007me-tooism
2008GFC
2009Twitter
2010vuvuzela
2011
2012green-on-blue
2013bitcoin
2014shirtfront
2015sharing economy
2016democracy sausage
2017Kwaussie
2018Canberra bubble
2019Voice
2020iso
2021strollout
2022teal
2023Matilda
2024Colesworth

''Cambridge Dictionary''

The Cambridge Dictionary Word of the Year, by Cambridge University Press & Assessment, has been published every year since 2015. The word is chosen based on "user data, zeitgeist, and language."
In 2024, Cambridge picked "manifest" as its Word of the Year. Traditionally, the word has been used as an adjective meaning "obvious", or as a verb meaning "to show something clearly through signs or actions". The word was chosen owing to its use by celebrities, particularly on social media, as a verb meaning "to imagine achieving something you want, in the belief doing so will make it more likely to happen".
YearWord of the YearNote
2015austerity
2016paranoidUncertainty surrounding global events.
2017populism
2018nomophobia
2019upcycling
2020quarantineWorldwide lockdowns as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021perseveranceDeployment of NASA Mars rover Perseverance, as well as societal recovery after COVID-19.
2022homerThe answer to a difficult Wordle puzzle.
2023hallucinateReferring to AI hallucinations: erroneous material generated by AI.
2024manifest
2025parasocial

''Collins English Dictionary''

The Collins English Dictionary has announced a Word of the Year every year since 2013, and prior to this, announced a new 'word of the month' each month in 2012. Published in Glasgow, UK, Collins English Dictionary has been publishing English dictionaries since 1819.
Toward the end of each calendar year, Collins release a shortlist of notable words or those that have come to prominence in the previous 12 months. The shortlist typically comprises ten words, though in 2014 only four words were announced as the Word of the Year shortlist.
The Collins Words of the Year are selected by the Collins Dictionary team across Glasgow and London, consisting of lexicographers, editorial, marketing, and publicity staff, though previously the selection process has been open to the public.
Whilst the word is not required to be new to feature, the appearance of words in the list is often supported by usage statistics and cross-reference against Collins' extensive corpus to understand how language may have changed or developed in the previous year. The Collins Word of the Year is also not restricted to UK language usage, and words are often chosen that apply internationally as well, for example, fake news in 2017.

Dictionary.com

In 2010, Dictionary.com announced its first word of the year, 'change', and has done so in December every year since. The selection is based on search trends on the site throughout the year and the news events that drive them.
The following is the list of annual words since beginning with the first in 2010:
YearWord of the Year
2010change
2011tergiversate
2012bluster
2013privacy
2014exposure
2015identity
2016xenophobia
2017complicit
2018misinformation
2019existential
2020pandemic
2021allyship
2022woman
2023hallucinate
2024demure
20256-7

The Economist

Since 2021, British current affair journal The Economist has published a word of the year.
YearWord of the Year
2021vax
2022hybrid work
2023ChatGPT
2024kakistocracy
2025slop

''Macquarie Dictionary''

The Macquarie Dictionary, which is the dictionary of Australian English, updates the online dictionary each year with new words, phrases, and definitions. These can be viewed on their website.
Each year the editors review all new words and definitions that have been added to the dictionary in the past year from which they select a shortlist and invite the public to vote on their favourite. The public vote is held in November and results in the People's Choice winner. The most influential word of the year is also selected by the Word of the Year Committee which comprises the Editorial Team at Macquarie Dictionary along with David Astle and language research specialist Tiger Webb. The Committee meets annually to select the overall winning words.
The following is the list of winning words since the Macquarie Word of the Year first began in 2006:
YearCommittee's ChoicePeople's Choice
2006muffin top
2007pod slurpingpassword fatigue
2008toxic debtflashpacker
2009shovel readytweet
2010googlegangershockumentary
2011burqinifracking
2012phantom vibration syndromeFirst World problem
2013infovoreonesie
2014mansplainshareplate
2015captain's callcaptain's call
2016fake newshalal snack pack
2017milkshake duckframily
2018me toosingle-use
2019cancel culturerobodebt
2020doomscrolling and ronaKaren and covidiot
2021strolloutstrollout
2022tealbachelor's handbag
2023cozzie livsgenerative AI
2024enshittificationenshittification
2025AI slopAI slop