The Merriam-Webster word of the year for 2023 is “authentic”. Search data for the word are routinely heavy on the dictionary company’s site. But for 2023? It boosted to new heights throughout the year.
“We see in 2023 a kind of crisis of authenticity,” Sokolowski, Senior Editor at Merriam-Webster said ahead of Monday’s announcement of this year’s word. “What we realise is that when we question authenticity, we value it even more.”
Sokolowski and his team don’t delve into the reasons people head for dictionaries and websites in search of specific words. Rather, they chase the data on search spikes and world events that correlate. This time around, search for the word rose consistently instead of a sudden spike.
