Collins English Dictionary reveals its 2022 word of the year

As nations across the globe face a plethora of ongoing crises, the Collins English Dictionary Tuesday revealed its 2022 word of the year to be “permacrisis,” a term to describe such events.

“Permacrisis” is a noun defined by the U.K.-based publisher HarperCollins as “an extended period of instability and insecurity, especially one resulting from a series of catastrophic events.” 

A blog post on the Collins Dictionary website by writer David Shariatmadari noted that the term rings true because of the war in Ukraine, climate change challenges, political instability and the surge in inflation. 

According to Shariatmadari, the term embodies the “dizzying sense of lurching from one unprecedented event to another,” as people wonder what new “horrors” might be around the corner. 

Other popular words and terms chosen by the publication this year included Kyiv, Partygate, splooting, vibe shift and quiet quitting.  

Last year, the publication picked “NFT” — an abbreviation for non-fungible token — as its word of 2021 because of how the digital revolution continues to rapidly grow and influence our culture, relationships and the way business is done.

Many new words can be drawn from popular culture, crises and society. In September, Merriam-Webster added 370 new words and phrases to its dictionary, some which, like “shrinkflation,” also reflect the current economic climate. 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, terms heard almost exclusively in the medical field became commonly used by the public: including subvariant, booster dose, and emergency use authorization, which are all new dictionary entries.

Collins Dictionary first published in 1824 and now contains over 4.5 billion words.