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Merriam-Webster鈥檚 word of the year reflects a search for truth

Merriam-Webster鈥檚 word of the year for 2023 is 鈥渁uthentic.鈥� Lookups for the word rose to new heights on Webster鈥檚 website throughout the year. Editor at large Peter Sokolowski called 2023, with the rise of AI, a 鈥渃risis year of authenticity.鈥�

First Look

In an age of deepfakes and post-truth, as artificial intelligence rose and Elon Musk turned Twitter into X, the Merriam-Webster word of the year for 2023 is 鈥渁uthentic.鈥�

Authentic cuisine. Authentic voice. Authentic self. Authenticity as artifice. Lookups for the word are routinely heavy on the dictionary company鈥檚 site but were boosted to new heights throughout the year, editor at large Peter Sokolowski told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview.

鈥淲e see in 2023 a kind of crisis of authenticity,鈥� he said ahead of the Nov. 27 announcement of this year鈥檚 word. 鈥淲hat we realize is that when we question authenticity, we value it even more.鈥�

Mr. Sokolowski and his team don鈥檛 delve into the reasons people head for dictionaries and websites in search of specific words. Rather, they chase the data on lookup spikes and world events that correlate. This time around, there was no particularly huge boost at any given time but a constancy to the increased interest in 鈥渁uthentic.鈥�

This was the year of artificial intelligence, for sure, but also a moment when ChatGPT-maker OpenAI suffered a leadership crisis. Taylor Swift and Prince Harry chased after authenticity in their words and deeds. Mr. Musk himself, at February鈥檚 World Government Summit in Dubai, urged the heads of companies, politicians, ministers, and other leaders to 鈥渟peak authentically鈥� on social media by running their own accounts.

鈥淐an we trust whether a student wrote this paper? Can we trust whether a politician made this statement? We don鈥檛 always trust what we see anymore,鈥� Mr. Sokolowski said. 鈥淲e sometimes don鈥檛 believe our own eyes or our own ears. We are now recognizing that authenticity is a performance itself.鈥�

Merriam-Webster鈥檚 entry for 鈥渁uthentic鈥� is busy with meaning.

There鈥檚 鈥渘ot false or imitation: real, actual,鈥� as in an authentic cockney accent. There鈥檚 鈥渢rue to one鈥檚 own personality, spirit, or character.鈥� There鈥檚 鈥渨orthy of acceptance or belief as conforming to or based on fact.鈥� There鈥檚 鈥渕ade or done the same way as an original.鈥� And, perhaps the most telling, there鈥檚 鈥渃onforming to an original so as to reproduce essential features.鈥�

鈥淎uthentic鈥� follows 2022鈥檚 choice of 鈥済aslighting.鈥� And 2023 marks Merriam-Webster鈥檚 20th anniversary choosing a top word.

The company鈥檚 data crunchers filter out evergreen words like 鈥渓ove鈥� and 鈥渁ffect鈥� vs. 鈥渆ffect鈥� that are always high in lookups among the 500,000 words it defines online. This year, the wordsmiths also filtered out numerous five-letter words because Wordle and Quordle players clearly use the company鈥檚 site in search of them as they play the daily games, Mr. Sokolowski said.

Mr. Sokolowski, a lexicologist, and his colleagues have a bevy of runners-up for word of the year that also attracted unusual traffic. They include 鈥淴鈥� (lookups spiked in July after Mr. Musk鈥檚 rebranding of Twitter), 鈥淓GOT鈥� (there was a boost in February when Viola Davis achieved that rare quadruple-award status with a Grammy) and 鈥淓lemental,鈥� the title of a new Pixar film that had lookups jumping in June.

Rounding out the company鈥檚 top words of 2023, in no particular order:

RIZZ: It鈥檚 slang for 鈥渞omantic appeal or charm鈥� and seemingly short for charisma. Merriam-Webster added the word to its online dictionary in September and it鈥檚 been among the top lookups since, Mr. Sokolowski said.

KIBBUTZ: There was a massive spike in lookups for 鈥渁 communal farm or settlement in Israel鈥� after Hamas militants attacked several near the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7. The first kibbutz was founded circa 1909 in what is today Israel.

IMPLODE: The June 18 implosion of the Titan submersible on a commercial expedition to explore the Titanic wreckage sent lookups soaring for this word, meaning 鈥渢o burst inward.鈥� 鈥淚t was a story that completely occupied the world,鈥� Mr. Sokolowski said.

DEADNAME: Interest was high in what Merriam-Webster defines as 鈥渢he name that a transgender person was given at birth and no longer uses upon transitioning.鈥� Lookups followed an onslaught of legislation aimed at curtailing LGBTQ+ rights around the country.

DOPPELGANGER: Mr. Sokolowski calls this 鈥渁 word lover鈥檚 word.鈥� Merriam-Webster defines it as a 鈥渄ouble,鈥� an 鈥渁lter ego鈥� or a 鈥済hostly counterpart.鈥� It derives from German folklore. Interest in the word surrounded Naomi Klein鈥檚 latest book, 鈥淒oppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World,鈥� released this year. She uses her own experience of often being confused with feminist author and conspiracy theorist Naomi Wolf as a springboard into a broader narrative on the crazy times we鈥檙e all living in.

CORONATION: King Charles III had one on May 6, sending lookups for the word soaring 15,681% over the year before, Mr. Sokolowski said. Merriam-Webster defines it as 鈥渢he act or occasion of crowning.鈥�

DEEPFAKE: The dictionary company鈥檚 definition is 鈥渁n image or recording that has been convincingly altered and manipulated to misrepresent someone as doing or saying something that was not actually done or said.鈥� Interest spiked after Mr. Musk鈥檚 lawyers in a Tesla lawsuit said he is often the subject of deepfake videos and again after the likeness of Ryan Reynolds appeared in a fake, AI-generated Tesla ad.

DYSTOPIAN: Climate chaos brought on interest in the word. So did books, movies, and TV fare intended to entertain. 鈥淚t鈥檚 unusual to me to see a word that is used in both contexts,鈥� Mr. Sokolowski said.

COVENANT: Lookups for the word meaning 鈥渁 usually formal, solemn, and binding agreement鈥� swelled on March 27, after a deadly mass shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee. The shooter was a former student killed by police after killing three students and three adults.聽

Interest also spiked with this year鈥檚 release of 鈥淕uy Ritchie鈥檚 The Covenant鈥� and Abraham Verghese鈥檚 long-awaited new novel, 鈥淭he Covenant of Water,鈥� which Oprah Winfrey chose as a book club pick.

More recently, soon after United States Rep. Mike Johnson ascended to House speaker, a 2022 interview with the Louisiana congressman recirculated. He discussed how his teen son was then his 鈥渁ccountability partner鈥� on Covenant Eyes, software that tracks browser history and sends reports to each partner when porn or other potentially objectionable sites are viewed.

INDICT: Former President Donald Trump has been indicted on felony charges in four criminal cases in New York, Florida, Georgia, and Washington, D.C., in addition to fighting a lawsuit that threatens his real estate empire.

This story was reported by The Associated Press.