What words have defined the last 12 months?
Last year’s “Word of the Year” (WOTY) elections were all about the world after COVID-19. “Vaccine” was named word of the year by Merriam-Webster and “Vax” was chosen by the Oxford English Dictionary. Collins tried to lighten the tone with pop culture words like “NFT,” but overall 2022 has taken a darker tone.
This year’s decisions were dominated by gloomy world events.
“Kiev,” the capital of Ukraine, was on Collins’ list after the invasion of Russia, as was “Partygate” — following the scandals that brought down British Prime Minister Boris Johnson — and the “silent resignation,” the practice of not working more than you are contractually obliged to do.
In the meantime, “Sentient,” “Omicron,” “Oligarch,” and “Queen Consort” were the top search listings of 2022 for Merriam-Webster.
The WOTY is a word or phrase that is searched for and used more and more frequently throughout the year. Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries are based on public opinion, their voices, and search queries. Merriam-Webster publishes an annual list of ten words, which is determined through an online survey.
Cambridge-Wörterbuch: ‘Homer’
Not to be confused with the Greek author of the epic poetry The Iliad and the Odyssey. The Cambridge Dictionary defines “homer” as “an informal American English word for a baseball home run.”
The word began in the first week of May 2022 when it became the answer in the online word puzzle Wordle. Players unfamiliar with the word felt “confused and frustrated” and used the Cambridge Dictionary to understand its meaning.
Collins Dictionary: ‘Permakrise’
Collins describes the “permacrisis” as “a prolonged period of instability and uncertainty” associated with the numerous crises that Britain and the world faced in 2022. That list includes climate change, inflation, several political debacles in Westminster, and the war in Ukraine.
Dictionary.com: ‘Frau’
According to Dictionary.com, “woman” is a word that is inextricably linked to the story of 2022 and reflects “how the intersection of gender, identity, and language dominates current cultural conversation.”
Woman” is defined on the website as an “adult female person,” but Dictionary.com said that was “not the last word on what makes a woman.”
Despite being such a common word, searches rose by 1,400 percent during Senate confirmation hearings for Ketanji Brown Jackson, who became the first black woman confirmed as a US Supreme Court judge.
When a Republican senator asked her for a definition of the word “woman,” Judge Jackson responded, “I’m not a biologist.”
In May, a leak revealed the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, and the search for women increased once again.
Merriam-Webster: „Gaslighting“
“Gaslighting” appeared in the mid-20th century and referred to a type of deception, as portrayed in the 1938 play, in which a man tries to make his wife believe that she is going crazy. He insists that her complaints about the constant dimming of the gas lights in her London townhouse are just a figment of her perturbed mind when that wasn’t the case.
Merriam-Webster initially defined gaslighting as psychological manipulation of a person, usually over a prolonged period of time, which “causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts, perception of reality, or memories and typically results in confusion, loss of self-confidence and self-esteem, uncertainty of their own emotional or mental stability, and dependence on the perpetrator.”
Now it has a simpler and more comprehensive meaning and is understood as “the act or practice of grossly misleading a person, particularly for personal gain.”
In 2022, searches for the term gaslighting rose by 1740 percent, and interest was high throughout the year.
The dictionary attributes this increase to “the huge increase in channels and technologies used to mislead.”
Oxford Dictionaries: „Goblin-Modus“
“Goblin mode” is a colloquial term that refers to “a type of behavior that is uncompromisingly compliant, lazy, sloppy, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations.”
According to Oxford, “goblin mode” represents the current “mood of people who rejected the idea of a return to ‘normal life” [following Covid-19 restrictions] or rebelled against the increasingly unattainable aesthetic standards and unsustainable lifestyles on social media.”
The word first appeared on Twitter in 2009 and went viral on social media in February 2022.
More than 300,000 people voted for the dictionary’s first-ever public vote on the word of the year. The term won by 93 percent against two other competitors — “Metaverse” and “#IStandWith” — in a landslide.
Japan’s Kanji of the Year 2022: “War”
The Chinese character, known in Japan as “kanji” for “war,” was voted the best kanji in a public vote in the country to symbolize 2022, a year marked by the conflict in Ukraine and the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Hardly the happiest selection, don’t you think?
What words have defined the last 12 months?
Last year’s “Word of the Year” (WOTY) elections were all about the world after COVID-19. “Vaccine” was named word of the year by Merriam-Webster and “Vax” was chosen by the Oxford English Dictionary. Collins tried to lighten the tone with pop culture words like “NFT,” but overall 2022 has taken a darker tone.
This year’s decisions were dominated by gloomy world events.
“Kiev,” the capital of Ukraine, was on Collins’ list after the invasion of Russia, as was “Partygate” — following the scandals that brought down British Prime Minister Boris Johnson — and the “silent resignation,” the practice of not working more than you are contractually obliged to do.
In the meantime, “Sentient,” “Omicron,” “Oligarch,” and “Queen Consort” were the top search listings of 2022 for Merriam-Webster.
The WOTY is a word or phrase that is searched for and used more and more frequently throughout the year. Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries are based on public opinion, their voices, and search queries. Merriam-Webster publishes an annual list of ten words, which is determined through an online survey.
Cambridge-Wörterbuch: ‘Homer’
Not to be confused with the Greek author of the epic poetry The Iliad and the Odyssey. The Cambridge Dictionary defines “homer” as “an informal American English word for a baseball home run.”
The word began in the first week of May 2022 when it became the answer in the online word puzzle Wordle. Players unfamiliar with the word felt “confused and frustrated” and used the Cambridge Dictionary to understand its meaning.
Collins Dictionary: ‘Permakrise’
Collins describes the “permacrisis” as “a prolonged period of instability and uncertainty” associated with the numerous crises that Britain and the world faced in 2022. That list includes climate change, inflation, several political debacles in Westminster, and the war in Ukraine.
Dictionary.com: ‘Frau’
According to Dictionary.com, “woman” is a word that is inextricably linked to the story of 2022 and reflects “how the intersection of gender, identity, and language dominates current cultural conversation.”
Woman” is defined on the website as an “adult female person,” but Dictionary.com said that was “not the last word on what makes a woman.”
Despite being such a common word, searches rose by 1,400 percent during Senate confirmation hearings for Ketanji Brown Jackson, who became the first black woman confirmed as a US Supreme Court judge.
When a Republican senator asked her for a definition of the word “woman,” Judge Jackson responded, “I’m not a biologist.”
In May, a leak revealed the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, and the search for women increased once again.
Merriam-Webster: „Gaslighting“
„Gaslighting“ tauchte Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts auf und bezeichnete eine Art Täuschung, wie es in dem Theaterstück von 1938 dargestellt wird, in dem ein Mann versucht, seine Frau glauben zu lassen, dass sie verrückt wird. Er besteht darauf, dass ihre Beschwerden über das ständige Dimmen der Gaslichter ihres Londoner Reihenhauses nur ein Hirngespinst ihres verstörten Verstandes sind, als dies nicht der Fall war.
Merriam-Webster definierte Gaslighting zunächst als psychologische Manipulation einer Person, in der Regel über einen längeren Zeitraum, die „dazu führt, dass das Opfer die Gültigkeit seiner eigenen Gedanken, Realitätswahrnehmung oder Erinnerungen in Frage stellt und typischerweise zu Verwirrung, Verlust von Selbstvertrauen und Selbstwertgefühl, Unsicherheit der eigenen emotionalen oder geistigen Stabilität und einer Abhängigkeit vom Täter führt“.
Jetzt hat es eine einfachere und umfassendere Bedeutung und wird als „die Handlung oder Praxis der groben Irreführung einer Person, insbesondere zu einem persönlichen Vorteil“ verstanden.
Im Jahr 2022 stiegen die Suchanfragen nach dem Begriff Gaslighting um 1740 Prozent, und das ganze Jahr über war das Interesse hoch.
Das Wörterbuch führt diesen Anstieg auf „die enorme Zunahme von Kanälen und Technologien zurück, die zur Irreführung eingesetzt werden“.
Oxford Dictionaries: „Goblin-Modus“
„Goblinmodus“ ist ein umgangssprachlicher Begriff, der sich auf „eine Art von Verhalten bezieht, das kompromisslos nachgiebig, faul, schlampig oder gierig ist, typischerweise in einer Weise, die soziale Normen oder Erwartungen ablehnt“.
Laut Oxford verkörpert der „Goblinmodus“ die aktuelle „Stimmung von Menschen, die die Idee einer Rückkehr zum ‚normalen Leben’ [nach den Covid-19-Beschränkungen] ablehnten oder gegen die zunehmend unerreichbaren ästhetischen Standards und unnachhaltigen Lebensstile in den sozialen Medien rebellierten“.
Das Wort erschien erstmals 2009 auf Twitter und wurde im Februar 2022 in den sozialen Medien viral.
Mehr als 300.000 Menschen gaben ihre Stimme für die allererste öffentliche Abstimmung des Wörterbuchs über das Wort des Jahres ab. Der Begriff gewann mit 93 Prozent gegen zwei weitere Konkurrenten — „Metaverse“ und „#IStandWith“ — mit Erdrutsch.
Japans Kanji des Jahres 2022: „Krieg“
The Chinese character, known in Japan as “kanji” for “war,” was voted the best kanji in a public vote in the country to symbolize 2022, a year marked by the conflict in Ukraine and the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Hardly the happiest selection, don’t you think?