What?
The Word of the Year for 2019 is “existential,” or “climate emergency,” “climate strike,” or my personal favorite, “they;” depending on where you search. Each year a group of linguists from different organizations; i.e. Merriam-Webster, Oxford Languages, Collins Dictionary, dictionary.com, and the American Dialect Society, among others, pick their word of the year. Sometimes abbreviated WOTY, the word of the year is a singular word or expression that is significant to the public. Linguists also look at the usage of current words, which is called neologism.
Linguists study the science and utilization of language. Their attention is on public practice of the term or expression and how it interfaces with the real-world. To become the Word of the Year, linguists consider the most searched words, the ones that have a significant spike from the previous year, and do they have lasting potential.
Merriam-Webster‘s WOTY
The 2019 Word of the Year for Merriam Webster is they, having a 313% spike in searches over the previous year. Moreover, there is a shift in the way they is used, which lured people to their dictionaries to hunt for the current definition. The first definition states, “those people, animals, or things.” The second meaning is, “used to refer to people in a general way or to a group of people who are not specified.”
As stated by Merriam-Webster, “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.” Preferred in professional writing, now in the place of the word “he or she,” use the singular pronoun “them or they,”
Oxford Languages and Collins Dictionary‘s WOTY
The Oxford Word of the Year for 2019 is climate emergency. Collins Dictionary chose climate strike. One of the expressions represents a situation and the other designates an action, so I will address them together. Climate emergency is, “a situation in which urgent action is required to reduce or halt climate change and avoid potentially irreversible environmental damage resulting from it.” Climate strike is “a form of protest in which people absent themselves from education or work in order to join demonstrations demanding action to counter climate change.” Both expressions show that the environment is an ongoing concern being disseminated in the headlines.
dictionary.com“s WOTY
The WOTY for dictionary.com is existential. The definition is, “of or relating to existence…concerned with the nature of human existence as determined by the individual’s freely made choices.” The word captures the struggle to survive, as topics of climate change and gun violence dominate our attention. It begs us to ask big questions of, why are we here, and what choices will extend our life beyond our self.
Altogether, dictionary.com added over 300 words, expressions, and acronyms this past year. Known as a neologism, defined as, “a new word, meaning, usage, or phrase; the introduction or use of new words or new senses of existing words.” Linguists consider how current words are being utilized and if used on a massive scale. Though the words have been around a while, in 2019 they were added to the dictionary. Here are a few examples.
Words Added to the Dictionary in 2019
In Conversations: Deep Dive: “a thorough or comprehensive analysis of a subject or issue.” Infodump: “a large quantity of backstory, or background information, supplied at once.” Elevator Pitch: “a brief talk or pitch intended to sell or win approval for something.”
On Social Media: Shitposting: “a form of trolling when someone ‘posts off-topic,’ false, or offensive contributions to an online forum. Their intent is to derail the discussions or provoke other participants.” Crybullies: “a person who self-righteously harasses or intimidates others while playing the victim, especially of a perceived social injustice.”
It’s a good idea to add these two expressions to your vocabulary so you are able to call out people for what they are doing with their social media comments.
As far as acronyms go, here are two dictionary additions: JSYK: “just so you know,” and JOMO: “joy of missing out.”
Past Words of the Year
An interesting exercise is looking up Past Words of the Year to grasp what happened at the time; it’s like a walk-through history.
1992: not! – as in just kidding
1993: information superhighway
1994: cyber, morph
1995: web
1996: mom – as in soccer mom
1997: millennium bug
1998: e- – as in e-mail or e-commerce
1999: Y2K
2000: chad – Florida voting
2001: 9-11
2002: weapons of mass destruction
2003: metrosexual
2004: red state, blue state, purple state – as in 2004 US presidential election,
2005: truthiness – from The Colbert Report
2006: plutoed – as in devalued like the planet Pluto
2007: Subprime – below a prime rate
2008: bailout – stock market crash
2009: tweet
2010: app
2011: tergiversate – as in changing opinions like politicians, the stock market, and public polls
2012: hashtag
2013: privacy – Facebook
2014: exposure – having all your information out there
2015: identity – big brother is watching
2016: xenophobia – fear of people of other cultures
2017: fake news – President Trump’s phrase
2018: misinformation – media’s skewed reporting
You can check the definitions of these words on dictionary.com.
American Dialect Society’s WOTYs
By the way, The American Dialect Society has been announcing the Word of the Year longer than any organization. They take it even further. The society chooses the Word for the End of the Decade, Word of the 20th Century, and Word of the Past Millennium. As with the WOTY, we can determine what transpired at that time.
Word of the Decade: 1990s: web 2000s: google (verb) 2010s: they (singular) Word of the 20th Century: jazz Word of the Past Millennium: she
Examining the Word of the Year provides a history lesson, recalling what happened during that year, and revealing what was the focus. Our language is not a static entity. It requires linguists to update the dictionaries by adding new words, and managing the definitions changed by the times. The English Language is integral for us to communicate, as long as we understand the meaning.
I wonder what the 2020 Word of the Year will be? Maybe it will be hoarding.
related items
