Word of the year

The word(s) of the year, sometimes capitalized as "Word(s) of the Year" and abbreviated "WOTY" (or "WotY"), refers to any of various assessments as to the most important word(s) or expression(s) 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.^[1][2]

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.^{[citation needed]} However, various other organizations also announce Words of the Year for a variety of purposes.

Since 1990, the American Dialect Society (ADS) 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."

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.^[3] The Word of the Year is often reported in the media as being Australia's word of the year,^[4][5] but the word is not always an Australian word.

The Cambridge Dictionary Word of the Year, by Cambridge University Press & Assessment, has been published every year since 2015.^[9] The word if chosen based on "user data, zeitgeist, and language."^[10]

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".^[11][12]

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.^[16]

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.^[17]

In 2010, Dictionary.com announced its first word of the year, 'change', and has done so in December every year since.^[38] The selection is based on search trends on the site throughout the year and the news events that drive them.^[39]

The following is the list of annual words since beginning with the first in 2010:^[38]

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.^[40]

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:

The lists of Merriam-Webster's Words of the Year (for each year) are ten-word lists published annually by the American dictionary-publishing company Merriam-Webster, Inc., which feature the ten words of the year from the English language. These word lists started in 2003 and have been published at the end of each year. At first, Merriam-Webster determined its contents by analyzing page hits and popular searches on its website. Since 2006, the list has been determined by an online poll and by suggestions from visitors to the website.^[54]

The following is the list of words that became Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year since 2003:^[55]

Oxford University Press, which publishes the Oxford English Dictionary and many other dictionaries, announces an Oxford Dictionaries UK Word of the Year and an Oxford Dictionaries US Word of the Year; sometimes these are the same word. The Word of the Year need not have been coined within the past twelve months but it does need to have become prominent or notable during that time. There is no guarantee that the Word of the Year will be included in any Oxford dictionary. The Oxford Dictionaries Words of the Year are selected by editorial staff from each of the Oxford dictionaries. The selection team is made up of lexicographers and consultants to the dictionary team, and editorial, marketing, and publicity staff.^[56]

Since 2004, lexicographer Grant Barrett has published an unranked words-of-the-year list, usually in The New York Times.^{[citation needed]}

Since 2004, Susie Dent, an English lexicographer has published a column, "A Word a Year", in which she chooses a single word from each of the last 101 years to represent preoccupations of the time. Susie Dent notes that the list is subjective.^[74][75][76] Each year, she gives a completely different set of words.

Since Susie Dent works for the Oxford University Press, her words of choice are often incorrectly referred to as "Oxford Dictionary's Word of the Year".

Austria: Word of the year (Austria) [de], since 1999

In Germany, a Wort des Jahres has been selected since 1972 (for year 1971) by the Society of the German Language.^[77] In addition, an Unwort des Jahres (Un-word of the year or Most Unpleasant Word of the Year) has been nominated since 1991, for a word or phrase in public speech deemed insulting or socially inappropriate (such as "Überfremdung").^[78] Similar selections are made each year since 1999 in Austria, 2002 in Liechtenstein, and 2003 in Switzerland. Since 2008, language publisher Langenscheidt supports a search for the German youth word of the year, which aims to find new words entering the language through the vernacular of young people.^[79][80]

In addition, several German dialects have their own Wort des Jahres selection: de:Plattdeutsches Wort des Jahres, de:Wort des Jahres (Sachsen), and de:Wort des Jahres (Südtirol)

In Denmark, the Word of the year [da] has been selected by Mål og Mæle [da], a popular science language magazine, during 2006-1012 and since 2009 also by the Sproglaboratoriet [da] radio program of the DR P1 radio channel in collaboration with Dansk Sprognævn (Danish Language Council).

Japan has held an annual word of the year contest called the "New Word/Trendy Phrase Award [ja]" (Shingo ryūkōgo taishō) since 1984, sponsored by the Jiyu Kokuminsha [ja] publisher (by U-CAN [ja] since 2004). In addition, the Kanji of the Year (kotoshi no kanji) has been selected since 1995, and both the kanji and the word/phrase of the year often reflect current Japanese events and attitudes. For example, in 2011, following the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the frustratingly enigmatic phrase used by Japanese officials before the explosion regarding the possibility of a meltdown - "the possibility of recriticality is not zero" (Sairinkai no kanōsei zero de wa nai) - became the top phrase of the year. In the same year, the kanji for "bond" (i.e., family ties or friendship) became the kanji of the year, expressing the importance of collectiveness in the face of disaster.^[81]

Liechtenstein: Word of the year (Liechtenstein) [de] since 2002

In Norway, the word of the year poll has been carried out since 2012.

In Portugal, the word of the year poll has been carried out since 2009.

In Russia, the word of the year poll has been carried out since 2007.

In Slovenia, the word of the year poll has been carried out since 2016. Each year, it is announced in January togehter with the SSL (Slovenian Sign Language) gesture of the year.

In Spain, a word of the year has been selected by Fundéu since 2013.

Switzerland: Word of the year (Switzerland) [de], since 2003

In Ukraine, the word of the year poll has been carried out since 2013.

In The Netherlands, the dictionary company Van Dale asks people to send in their nominations for the word of the year, it then makes a 10 word shortlist of which people can vote the word of the year. It started doing this since 2007.

• Language Report from Oxford University Press
• Lists of Merriam-Webster's Words of the Year
• Neologism
• Doublespeak Award
• Kanji of the year

• John Ayto, "A Century of New Words", Series: Oxford Paperback Reference (2007) ISBN 0-19-921369-0
• John Ayto, "Twentieth Century Words", Oxford University Press (1999) ISBN 0-19-860230-8

• Top words from 2000 – present @ Global Language Monitor
• Word of the Year Archive @ Macquarie Dictionary
• Word of the Year Archive @ Merriam-Webster
• Word of the Year Archive @ OxfordWords blog
• Austrian Word of the Year
• Canadian Word of the Year
• Liechtenstein Word of the Year
• Switzerland Word of the Year
• Dictionary.com word of the year @ Dictionary.com