Words of the Year, and then Some

 

Words of the Year, and then Some

I read this week that a good contender for the word of the year for 2026 is affordability, given how prices in the US and elsewhere continue to rise.

But what about past years?

Here are the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) selections, from 2016 until last year. As you read the list, you might want to ask yourself the two questions I did: “Do I know what each of these words mean?” And “Have I used any of them in a sentence this past week?”

• 2025: Rage-bait
• 2024: Brain rot
• 2023: Rizz
• 2022: Goblin mode
• 2021: Vax
• 2020: No single word chosen (acknowledged as an unprecedented year)
• 2019: Climate emergency
• 2018: Toxic
• 2017: Youthquake
• 2016: Post-truth””

How fleeting is fame. The forces propelling Goblin mode into prominence in 2022 apparently vanished. Same with Youthquake.

Toxic is still around, as is the idea of Climate emergency. But I’ve never heard anyone speak of Brain rot.

I looked up rizz, which is short for charisma. Ít’s “internet slang for charm, style, or romantic appeal.” (I might need that if I’m asked to describe myself in a job interview.)

Most of these words or phrases, which received the linguistic equivalent of an Oscar, were one-year wonders: waving to adoring fans one year but fading into oblivion the next.

If you want to go back farther, other has-beens await your attention. The OED started announcing their words of the year in 2004.

If you want to go back farther still, say 15,000 years, Inc.com reports that scientists have identified the 23 oldest words in English that have survived all these millennia. Among them are thou, I, mother, bark and black.

Here’s the study, reported in 2017: https://www.inc.com/melanie-curtin/science-says-these-23-words-are-oldest-in-world.html. That was the year of youthquake, a word that I’m confident won’t be around in 15,000 years.

[300 words]