糖心VLOG

Last week, people around the world attended an exclusive hosted by renowned lexicographer and etymologist Susie Dent, joined by a panel of OUP experts as we announced our shortlist for Oxford Word of the Year 2024.

Katherine Martin, Product Director in Oxford Languages, brought us all the way back to 2004 and took us through the past 20 years of Word of the Year. There was special mention of some years where our winners were not just simply a 鈥榳ord鈥�: in 2015, we named 馃槀 as Word of the Year after it made up 20% of all emojis used in the UK, and 17% in the US; while in 2020, we published a special report into the 鈥榃ords of an Unprecedented Year鈥� as we felt one word couldn鈥檛 sum up all the events of that year.

Fiona McPherson, Senior Editor in the New Words team for the , explained how a potential winner of Word of the Year does not necessarily need to have staying power beyond the year it was chosen in, saying that 鈥渋n some ways, that makes it an even better candidate for a Word of the Year because it鈥檚 saying something about that year, that time鈥�.

Examples of some of our past winners which have both captured the essence of their year and have stayed in the public consciousness include 2013 winner selfie (Fiona鈥檚 favourite winner!), 2005 US winner podcast, and 2012 UK winner .

After this fascinating potted history, Casper Grathwohl, President of Oxford Languages, explained the value of involving the public in the decision-making process, saying that 鈥渨e鈥檙e interested in the conversations that happen around the shortlist鈥�, following the announcement that this year鈥檚 winner would be decided, in part, by public vote.

The winner will also be decided through analysis based on our corpus data鈥攁 collection of over 25 billion words, capturing how usage frequency and senses are changing over time鈥攂y our language experts. Casper said: 鈥淚 feel it brings two expert facets together: us, as users, are the experts of the English language; along with the evidence-based story that allows us to look underneath the hood of what鈥檚 happening to language.鈥�

Without further ado, it was time to reveal the six shortlisted words.

‘Brain rot’ and ‘slop’ are both words which can be linked to an anxiety about the balance between humanity and technology but allude to it in different ways. While 鈥榖rain rot鈥� speaks to the anxiety of the effects of viewing or overindulging in algorithmic, online content and striking a balance between the online and real world, 鈥榮lop鈥� captures a sense of nervousness around content created by generative AI displacing or draining out human creativity.

Although the earliest evidence for ‘romantasy’ appeared in 2008, the term hadn鈥檛 become mainstream until the last 12 months when usage frequency has spiked, particularly on BookTok. Another term which is not new this year, but certainly has taken on new prominence in the year, is ‘dynamic pricing’. Awareness of鈥攁nd controversy over鈥� its use has increased this year due to some high-profile cases around concert tickets, as well as its use in transport and other industries.

Rounding off our shortlist, ‘lore’ and ‘demure’ have been used in new contexts this year, revitalizing them as a part of our vocabulary. Usage of these words has been driven in particular by users and communities on TikTok through cycles of different and rapidly changing trends.

After some insightful questions and answers with the whole panel, Susie brought proceedings to a close, announcing that voting is open.

You can catch up with the full event recording . And, don’t miss out on the chance to have your say on your favourite Word of the Year鈥攙oting closes at 3pm GMT on Thursday 28 November.