Word of the Year - Adventures in Linguistics

Meme. Selfie. Vibe. Plant-based. Zoomer. GOAT. Ghost. Mic Drop. Binge-watch.

These are all relatively new terms in the English lexicon, testament to the ever-changing nature of language and constant emergence of creative neologisms.

Every January since 1990, the American Dialect Society crowns a Word of the Year at the annual meeting of the Linguistic Society of America. A team of linguists, lexicographers, etymologists, and more evaluate not just words but “vocabulary items” such as phrases, compounds, and affixes.

Submissions do not have to be new but they do have to be newly prominent in the past year. They also pick winners and runners-up for subcategories such as Most Useful or Political Word Word of the Year.

The 2023 Word of the Year is enshittification, meaning “a worsening of a digital platform through reduction in quality of service.” My favorite word for 2023 was runner-up term Kenaissance, referring to the “renaissance in the wake of Barbie’s depiction of Ken.” True confession – I proudly own a “I am Kenough” sweatshirt!

Here are some fun runner-up terms for 2023:

let (someone) cook: allow a person to do something they are good at without interference.
era: a personal period defined by a noteworthy style or behavior.
millennial pause: pause at beginning of a recorded video, as opposed to the Gen Z shake.
IYKYK (if you know, you know): A reference understood by a select group.
delulu: delusion, as in delulu is the solulu (delusion is the solution).

To illustrate the staying power of new terms, here are some notable Word of the Year winners:

2020: Covid
Word of decade (2010-2019): they
2019: (my) pronouns
2014: #blacklivesmatter
2012: #hashtag
Word of decade (2000-2009): google (verb)
2009: tweet
2004: red/blue/purple states
2001: 9-11
Word of decade (1990-2000): web
Word of century (1900-2000): jazz
Word of millennium (1000-2000): she

Gotta bounce. Peace out. TTYL!

All of the Words of the Year, 1990 to Present – American Dialect Society