Words of the Year 2024, in the UK, USA and Australia

All major English dictionaries have recently published their Word of the Year, so these terms are going to be the focus of the last entry of this blog in 2024. 

The Oxford English Dictionary has chosen the term "Brain rot", which means "the deterioration of a person's mental or intellectual state as a result of the overconsumption of trivial online contents". You can read all Oxford University Press has published about "Brain rot" on this link, or you can read CBS report "Oxford University Press picks "Brain rot" as word of the year. See other finalists". B2 students will find new words like (NOTE: the words with no hyperlink are not listed in the dictionary yet, but their definition can be found in the news reports): brain rot, demure, slop, dynamic pricing, romantasy, lore, to endorse, rizz, brat. 

The Cambridge English Dictionary has opted for "Manifest", which is defined as "to visualize or to imagine achieving something so as to make it more likely to happen".

Again, you can look up Cambridge Dictionary web page for "Manifest" on this link or read the BBC article "Manifest: Cambridge Dictionary Word of the Year". B2 learners can come across interesting vocabulary like: to manifest, wellness, to endorse, to look up [a word], to spike, demure, brat, goldilocks.

The Collins Dictionary has decided on "Brat", which describes "a confident, independent, and hedonistic attitude". On this link, "Brat", you can check out Collins winner and the shortlisted words, which include "brain rot", or you can read CNN's piece "Collins Dictionary's word of the year is a confident, messy way of life". B2 learners can pick up words like: brat, messy, to resonate with [people], dumb, a breakdown, blunt, to outline, strappy, bra, a seal of approval, to be shortlisted, delulu, looksmaxxing, rawdogging, anti-tourism, supermajority, to make the cut.

For American English, Merriam-Webster Dictionary has gone for "Polarization", which, in short, is explained as "a division into two distinct opposites, where the beliefs or interest of a society concentrate at opposing extremes".

You can read all about the word "Polarization" on this Merriam-Webster link, or else, read the story in Time magazine "Merriam-Webster picks its word of the year and highlights nine others that defined 2024". B2 students will encounter attractive terms like: to highlight, sharp, to date back to [1800s], to split [apart], MAGA, to be decried, totality, demure, fortnight, pander, to spike, a [conservative news] outlet, to resonate, allision, weird, to lob [back], cognitive, [to put] the spotlight [on something].

Aussies voted for Enshittification, which was also chosen by a committee of experts, and is defined as "the deterioration of a service, esp. of an online platform, by a reduction in quality, to seek profit". Here is the link from Macquarie Dictionary to Enshittification, and next you can access ABC News report "Macquarie Dictionary names 'enshittification' as 2024 Word of the Year. But what does it mean?". B2 learners will discover new coinages and less trodden vocabulary like (NOTE: the words with no hyperlink are not listed in the dictionary yet, but their definition can be found in the news report): enshittification, to sum up, to deem [someting offensive], cozzie livs, to coin [a word], shrinkflation, right to disconnect (RDD), rawdogging, to stem from, a long-haul [flight], brain rot, social battery, fairy porn, incidentaloma, looksmaxxing, kup murri, overtourism, Q-day, pig-butchering, a scammer, rent bidding, a sigma, skibidi, spoon bowl, colesworth, derogatory.

Finally, you can watch a thorough news analysis of the Word of the Year story by Palki Sharma for the Indian news website "Firstpost" (05':06"), which sarcastically explains the meaning of the winners and some of the runner-ups. 

Happy New Year, 2025!