The word(s) of the year are always fascinating, not just for lexicographers, wordsmiths, and logophiles but also for those wanting to comprehend the most dominant sentiments and moods that shaped the year.

The word(s) of the year are supposed to reflect social trends and global events that defined the year. Reviewing the word(s) of the year over time could serve as a reminder of how society and language have evolved or devolved.

Words such as “wokeism” and “anti-racist” were recently added to the Oxford dictionary, as was the medical term “angiography” and the information technology term 

“data governance”.

Purists usually disapprove of slang terms or acronyms that emanate from social media being added to a dictionary because they see it as a step toward trivialization.

These additions are essential because the purpose of a dictionary is to provide meanings of commonly used syllables, irrespective of their origins. A word being in a dictionary isn’t necessarily an endorsement of its origins, i.e. the politics behind it, but rather the fact that readers who come across it should be able to glean the meaning.

Pioneered by the American Dialect Society, the practice of “Word of the Year” began in 1990, and soon major dictionaries such as Oxford, Merriam-Webster, Cambridge, etc. adopted this attention-drawing trend.

The “Word of the Year” is decided following polls of users.

So here are the words of the year by various prominent dictionaries.

We begin with the Oxford Dictionary, perhaps the pre-eminent lexicon of the English language.

The Oxford Word of the Year for 2024 is “brain rot”.

Brain rot is “the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging.”

It is caused when humans scroll interminably and mindlessly through Instagram reels and TikTok on their mobile devices.

This isn’t just the word of the year but the word of our era, but surprisingly this isn’t a modern invention; its usage was first recorded of the word dates to 1854 by Henry David Thoreau in Walden. The sentence was: “While England endeavours to cure the potato rot, will not any endeavour to cure the brain-rot – which prevails so much more widely and fatally?”

Thoreau refers to societal decline due to the general aversion to complex ideas.

Most of the amazing discoveries and inventions were the result of functioning brains and environments that encouraged freedom of thought.

One wonders how many great inventions and discoveries were lost to mankind due to the combined effects of brain rot…and the curbing of free speech. The result of brain rot and attention deficiency is that screenwriters of web series and films are instructed to curb nuance and complexities from their writing because viewers should not be lost if they are momentarily distracted while scrolling through their phones.

Next is the Cambridge Dictionary: Cambridge Dictionary’s Word of the Year was revealed to be “manifest.”Cambridge Dictionary revealed: “Manifest won this year because it increased notably in look-ups, its use widened greatly across all types of media due to events in 2024, and it shows how the meanings of a word can change over time.”

Once upon a time the word only meant something easily noticed or obvious, e.g. the symptoms of the disease manifested a week after exposure to the virus. But in current parlance, “to manifest” is to fantasize about your dream being achieved with the conviction that doing so will make it more likely to happen.

This once again reflects the sentiments of our time where individuals would rather fantasize than strive for their goals. Singer Dua Lipa, and even gold medalists such as Olympics Simone Biles, have attributed their achievements to this practice.

Hopefully, these achievers will emphasize that merely “manifesting” didn't cause their success, it was also a combination of talent and hard work.

The risk of this practice is that the talentless and the lazy could irrationally develop unrealistic expectations from life which will eventually lead to disappointment.

Next is an American dictionary that was first published in 1831: Merriam-Webster Dictionary’s Word of the Year is polarization.

The dictionary defines polarization as “division into two sharply distinct opposites; especially, a state in which the opinions, beliefs, or interests of a group or society no longer range along a continuum but become concentrated at opposing extremes.”

The word dates back to the early 1800s to describe light waves.

That physical meaning of polarize—“to cause to vibrate in a definite pattern”—led to the political and cultural meaning that helps define the world today.

We are witnessing this dominant trend in our times due to the balkanization of social media which has led to the word Cyberbalkanization.

These hard groupings have created tribalism, leaving very little space for nuance; there is a hard set of rules and if the rules are violated the individual is branded a traitor.

Before social media this happened on a smaller scale, perhaps only locally, but now people usually follow others on social media with whom they totally agree; a slight difference of opinion they not only unfollow but block.

A perfect example is Senator John Fetterman, who, unlike his Democrat colleagues, met with many of Trump’s nominees and said he would vote for them with an open mind. Fetterman also opened an account on Trump’s Truth Social. He also denounced Democrats for baselessly branding Trump and his voters as a fascist. Fetterman will be labeled a traitor for being brave, in telling the truth to totalitarian Democrats. This is the polarization that is pulling the nation apart.

Next is a dictionary first published in Glasgow in 1979—Collin’s Word of the Year is brat. Collins’s lexicographers look across social media and other sources to determine which words should be added to their annual list of new and notable words.

Collins dictionary defined this word, which I heard from one of my school teachers very much as a child, especially as one who is ill-mannered or unruly, used contemptuously or playfully.

Per Collins, the word is “characterized by a confident, independent, and hedonistic attitude.”

The word brat was recently revitalized after it became the title of the hit studio album by British pop singer Charli XCX. The singer said a brat is “that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes.” On a BBC podcast, she said a brat might have “a pack of cigs, a Bic lighter, and a strappy white top with no bra.”

The “Kamala IS Brat” was also an unsuccessful attempt by the Democrats to brand Kamala Harris as a chic rebel perhaps. But the least you expect from a brat politician is to be able to articulate her rebellious views. In Kamala’s case, even the construction of a coherent English sentence was a tough challenge.

Finally, we look at the online dictionary which draws on all online dictionaries to find the meaning of any given word. Dictionary.com's word of the Year is demure.

To select the 2024 Word of the Year, Dictionary.com’s lexicographers analyzed a large amount of data including newsworthy headlines, trends on social media, search engine results, and more to identify words that made an impact on our conversations, online and in the real world.

The traditional meaning of demure is reserved, quiet, shy, or modest. These aren’t sentiments that prevail in current times, and are not why demure achieved its coveted distinction. The word demure witnessed a meteoric rise in usage in 2024, and the BBC explains why:

The phrase ‘very demure’ was coined by a creator called Jools Lebron in a video posted on 5 August which has more than 30 million views. Jools now has more than 1.5 million followers on TikTok, and her content usually includes grwm (get ready with me) videos and make-up tutorials, but reached new heights when her ‘very demure’ video went viral.

Dictionary.com states that “a new usage has spread through social media — one used to describe refined and sophisticated appearance or behavior in various contexts, such as at work or on a plane. This increased focus on public appearance and behavior comes at a time when employees are increasingly returning to offices after hybrid remote work following the pandemic.”

The pioneer of this tradition the American Dialect Society is yet to decide their word of the year. But their 2023 Word of the Year was “Enshittification” which means “The gradual deterioration of a service or product brought about by a reduction in the quality of service provided, especially of an online platform, and as a consequence of profit-seeking.” This happens to be the word of the year for Macquarie Dictionary from Australia.

Image: Free image, Pixabay license.