'Woman' has been made the 2022 word of the year

Virgin Radio

14 Dec 2022, 16:39

The word "woman" has been chosen by Dictionary as the word of the year for 2022.

The dictionary.com website has picked the word to commemorate the year, while the Oxford Dictionary chose "goblin mode", and Collins opted for "permacrisis."

The dictionary website reported a surge in searches for the word over the last 12 months, and says there was an increase of 1,400 percent.

It said the increase came after a confirmation hearing for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson in the US.

The judge was asked by Senator Marsha Blackburn to define the word woman.

Blackburn asked: "Can you provide a definition for the word ‘woman’?’

"I can’t," Jackson replied.

"You can’t?" responded Blackburn.

"Not in this context – I’m not a biologist," Jackson responded.

Also on the shortlist was the Ukraine flag emoji, inflation, quiet quitting, democracy and Wordle.

Wordle was added to the dictionary this year.

Other events thought to have seen the surge in searches for "woman" include the equal pay settlement reached by the U.S. Women’s soccer team, and protests in Iran.

Dictionary.com said: "The prominence of the question and the attention it received, demonstrate how issues of transgender identity and rights are now frequently at the forefront of our national discourse,"

"More than ever, we are all faced with questions about who gets to identify as a woman (or a man, or neither). The policies that these questions inform transcend the importance of any dictionary definition—they directly impact people’s lives."

Dictionary.com defines woman as "an adult female person" but the press release continued: "But the dictionary is not the last word on what defines a woman. The word belongs to each and every woman – however they define themselves."

Meanwhile, Dara Sanderson, CEO, Dictionary.com said: "Every day at Dictionary.com, our team is documenting how language is changing, following the data and cultural roadmaps.

"Our work culminates in an important selection, a word that defines a year and tells a deeper story. Perhaps no word is more relevant for those points than woman."