We have entered this period of the year. As 2023 comes to an end, we have chosen its words. Some of the words you have heard, used, loved or, on the contrary, some words that none of these things happened will now be associated with 2023 in the pages of history. When we look back in the future, they will enable us to get an idea of that year and make a general judgement. Perhaps they will remind us of news and events of that time.
Official dictionary organisations in many countries, which have been selecting and recording them for decades, have identified one or more words. I would like to share them with you by quoting them. Let’s get started. Let’s see which ones have caught our ears this year. Let’s see how unfamiliar and unusual they are. Let’s start alphabetically and go through them.
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We start with the Cambridge Dictionary. They’ve been making these selections since 2015, and from what I’ve read, they’re based on the most searched words. (According to the source, Wordle, a word puzzle game popular among large communities, caused a huge increase in dictionary searches for hard-to-find words, and that is why the word for 2022 was chosen). The word of the year 2023 is therefore “hallunicate”. According to the explanation on the dictionary’s website, it is associated with artificial intelligence.
The surge of interest this year has been prompted by an abundance of tools being released for public use, such as ChatGPT, Bard, DALL-E, and BingAI, all of which depend on large language models.
Again, as they point out, new technology certainly brings with it new meanings, terms and perceptions. Of course, anyone who wants to somehow adapt to the rapidly evolving world in this direction is also looking at the underlying concepts.
We continue with the Collins English Dictionary. As far as I can tell, not only did it do this in 2012, but it also started selecting “Words of the Month” from the following year. However, I see that there is no regular selection of words for each month. In other words, there are not necessarily 13 words in total each year.
Based in Glasgow and London, the dictionary looks at local/national usage (as would any dictionary in different countries), but it also often judges words with global impact. Speaking of which, whereas in the past the verdict of the public was most important, now it is more likely to be lexicographers, editors, marketing and advertising staff.
The word of 2023 is once again “AI” (artificial intelligence). Its undeniable impact on the masses brings it to the top of the dictionaries. The explanation on their website is as follows:
‘AI’, a term that describes ‘the modelling of human mental functions by computer programs’ has been named Collins Word of the Year 2023. Considered to be the next great technological revolution, AI has seen rapid development and has been much talked about in 2023.
The other words, of which there are 9 in total, are frankly very unfamiliar to me. There is also a short explanation of each word on the source website, accompanied by illustrations and animations to help understanding. I think this is a well thought out move.
Bazball
Deinfluencing
Nepo Baby
Ultraprocessed
Canon Event
Debanking
Greedflation
Semaglutide
ULEZ
Macquarie Dictionary is generally accepted by universities and the legal profession as the authoritative source for Australian English. To be honest, I think my unfamiliarity with the dictionary is partly due to this, but it is interesting to examine the preferences of the various opinions and minds that have made their choices on behalf of 2023. Furthermore, the dictionary that I have seen conducting selections since 2006 reports both the committee’s choice and the public’s choice separately.
In this context, the word chosen by the committee for 2023 is “cozzie livs” (cost of living), while the public seems to have chosen “generative AI”. Once again we see the effect of the word on people. I don’t think we need to talk about it again.
At the same time, we also see various additions as words worth mentioning. The committee voted for “blue-sky flood” and “algospeak”. Among the public, the words “skimplation”, “rizz”, “hostile architecture” and “doorway effect” seem to be more prominent. You can also read the committee’s explanation of each word on the website.
Merriam-Webster is another dictionary that has been defining the word of the year since 2003. This US-based company also started this selection process early by analysing the clicks received by websites and search engine results. Three years later, they decided to put it to a public vote.
The users of Merriam-Webster, chose “authentic” for the word of 2023. The site gave the meaning as follows:
The term for something we’re thinking about, writing about, aspiring to, and judging more than ever.
Site’s explanation as to why the word has become a hallmark of this year is also quite understandable.
A high-volume lookup most years, authentic saw a substantial increase in 2023, driven by stories and conversations about AI, celebrity culture, identity, and social media.
Some of the other highlighted words are “rizz”, “deepfake”, “coronation”, “dystopian”, “EGOT”, “X”, “implode”, “doppelgänger”. I was surprised because I was familiar with almost all of them. When I read EGOT, found it logical enough because it was simple and understandable.
Finally, there is the Oxford English Dictionary. They say they make this decision based on what reflects the ethos, mood, or concern of the year, and what has cultural significance, and then they choose those they believe have lasting potential.
So the word they chose was “rizz”. Along with artificial intelligence, it was clearly the word that was most reflected in the dictionaries. Although linguistic experts and more than 32,000 votes decided it should be the word, the meaning of the word was not even given. However, it generally refers to the charismatic aspects and methods of a person that are used to seduce others.
Photo by Janosch Lino on Unsplash
Looking back, it is surprising and interesting for me to analyse how many meanings have entered our lives. It is like taking a photograph of an important moment. It is such a photograph that it recreates everything that happened in your mind. That is the effect of these words: Talking about them again, discussing them, criticising them or adopting them.
Whether they are old or new, they will continue to live as long as they make people talk about them, and they can ensure permanence in use. Seeing some words that will lead a generation to use a different style is like looking into the future. It is as if we are somehow witnessing a conversation from a distant world. We feel less alien.
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