Top Words of the 21st Century (By Year)

The Top Words, Phrases, and Names of the 21st century follow.

2018:
Top Words: No. 1 Truth, No. 2 Narrative, No. 3, Opioids
Top Phrases: No 1. Weinstein Effect (and #MeToo), 2. Nuclear Option (North Korean version.), 3. Deep State
Top Names: No. 1 Donald Trump, No. 2 Vladimir Putin, No. 3 Neil Gorsuch
2017:
Top Words: No. 1 Truth, No. 2 Narrative, No. 3, Opioids
Top Phrases: No 1. Weinstein Effect (and #MeToo), 2. Nuclear Option (North Korean version.), 3. Deep State
Top Names: No. 1 Donald Trump, No. 2 Vladimir Putin, No. 3 Neil Gorsuch
2016:
Top Words: No. 1 A meme — Omran Daqneesh in Aleppo) No. 2 Refugee
Top Phrases: No. 1 Make America Great Again No. 2 When they go low, we go high No. 3 The Electoral College

Top Names: No. 1 Donald Trump, No. 2 Vladimir Putin, No. 3 Neil Gorsuch

2015:
Top Words: No. 1 Microaggression
Top Phrases: No. 1 Migrant Crisis
Top Names: No. 1 Donald J. Trump
2014:
Top Words: No. 1 The Heart ♥ Emoji (for love), No. 2 Hashtag, No. 3 Vape
Top Phrases: No. 1 Hands Up, Don’t Shoot; No. 2 Cosmic Inflation, No. 3 Global Warming

Top Names: No. 1 Ebola, No. 2 Pope Francis, No. 3 World War I

2013:
Top Words: No. 1 ’404’, No.2 Fail, No.3 Hashtag
Top Phrases: No. 1 Toxic Politics, No. 2 Federal Shutdown, No.3 Global Warming/Climate Change
Top Names: No. 1. Pope Francis, No. 2 ObamaCare, No.3 NSA
2012:
Top Words: No. 1 Apocalypse/Armageddon, No.2 Deficit, No. 3 Olympiad
Top Phrases: No. 1 Gangnam Style, No. 2 Climate Change/Global Warming, No. 3 Fiscal Cliff

Top Names: No. 1 Newtown and Malala Yousafzai, No. 3 Xi Jinping

2011:
Top Words: No. 1 Occupy, No. 2 Fracking, No.3 Drone
Top Phrases: No. 1 Arab Spring, No. 2 Royal Wedding, No.3 Anger and Rage
Top Names: No. 1 Steve Jobs, No. 2 Osama bin-laden and Seal Team Six, No. 3 Fukushima
2010:
Top Words: No. 1 Spillcam, No. 2 Vuvuzela, No. 3 The Narrative
Top Phrases: No. 1 Anger and Rage, No. 2 Climate Change, No. 3 The Great Recession
Top Names: No. 1 Hu Jintao, paramount leader of China, No. 2 iPad, No. 3 Barack Obama
2009:
Top Words: No. 1 Twitter, No. 2 Obama-, No. 3 H1N1
Top Phrases: No. 1 King of Pop, No. 2 Obama-mania, No. 3 Climate Change
Top Names: No. 1 Obama, No. 2 Michael Jackson, No. 3 Mobama
2008:
Top Words: No. 1 Change, No. 2 Bailout, No. 3 Obama-mania
Top Phrases: No. 1 Financial Tsunami, No. 2 Global Warming, No. 3 “Yes, We Can!”

Top Names: No. 1 Barack Obama, No. 2 George W. Bush, No.3 Michael Phelps
2007:
Top Words: No. 1 Hybrid (representing all things green), No. 2: Surge
Top Phrase: Climate Change
Top Name: Al Gore
2006:
Top Word: Sustainable
Top Phrase: Stay the Course
Top Name: Dafur
2005:
Top Words: No. 1, Refugee No. 2: Tsunami No. 3: Katrina
Top Phrase: Outside the Mainstream
Top Name: (acts of ) God
2004:
Top Word: Incivility (for inCivil War)
Top Phrase: Red States/Blue States No. 2: Rush to War
Top Name: Dubya/Rove
2003:
Top Word: Embedded
Top Phrase: Shock and Awe, No. 2: Rush to War
Top Name: Saddam Hussein, No. 2 Dubya
2002:
Top Word: Misunderestimate
Top Phrase: Threat Fatigue
Top Name: W (Dubya)
2001:
Top Word: Ground Zero
Top Phrase: ‘Lets Roll’
Top Name: The Heros
2000:
Top Word: Chad
Top Phrase: Dot.com
Top Name: W (Dubya)

About the Global Language Monitor

In 2003, The Global Language Monitor (GLM) was founded in Silicon Valley by Paul J.J. Payack on the understanding that new technologies and techniques were necessary for truly understanding the world of Big Data, as it is now known.

Today, from its home in Austin, Texas GLM provides a number of innovative products and services that utilize its ‘algorithmic services’ to help worldwide customers protect, defend and nurture their branded products and entities. Products include ‘brand audits’ to assess the current status, establish baselines, and competitive benchmarks for current intellectual assets and brands, and to defend products against ambush marketing.

These services are currently provided to the Fortune 500, the Higher Education market, high technology firms, the worldwide print, and electronic media, as well as the global fashion industry, among others.

For More Information, go to LanguageMonitor.com or call 1.737.215.7750 or email info@LanguageMonitor.com.

July 3, 2020July 5, 2020

Global Language Monitor Announces That ‘Covid’ is the Top Word of 2020

Global Language Monitor Announces That ‘Covid’ is the Top Word of 2020 (Top 50 #WOTY Ranked)

AUSTIN, Texas,

July 6, 2020 (Newswire.com)

Global Language Monitor (GLM), the data research company that documents, analyzes, and tracks trends in language usage worldwide, has announced that Covid is the Top Word of 2020 in its mid-year update.

“It’s no surprise that ‘covid’ has risen to the top of the rankings,” said Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst of GLM. “However, ‘covid’ has received the highest number of citations ever recorded in our global survey. In fact, ‘covid’ has outranked all previous Words of the Year in the 21st century by a factor of 100, or more.”

Covid is the commonly used shorthand for the shorthand for Covid-19. Covid-19 is the official name of the virus caused by the SARS CoV-2 virus, so named in WHO’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD).

Covid-19 is ranked No. 2 on GLM’s mid-year update. The Top Ten Words of the Year (#WOTY) for 2020 include Covid, Covid-19, Coronavirus, Corona, Face mask, Progress, Truth, Social Distancing, Trade War, and Sustainability.

Top Words of the Year of 2020 (#WOTY2020) mid-year update follow (Rank, Word, Definition/Comment).

Please Note: Typically, the Global Language Monitor publishes the Top Twenty Words in its rankings. In this #WOTY2020 mid-year update, for the historical record, we are extending the published rankings to the Top Fifty.

Global Language Monitor
Top Words of 2020 for Global English (Mid-year Update
Rank	Word	Definition
1	Covid	The shorthand for Covid-19 has the largest number of citations ever recorded in the 21st century.
2	Covid-19	The name of the virus caused by the SARS CoV-2 by WHO’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD).
3	Coronavirus	SARS-CoV-2 full name of virus that causes Covied-19.
4	Corona	From the Latin for ‘crown’. Compare the Sun’s corona during a total eclipse.
5	Face mask	A face covering that helps halt the spread of Covid-19 to varying degrees depending on the material and number of layers.
6	Progress	The belief that society moves ever towards betterment
7	Truth	The idea that there is an objective, discernible reality for humans to discover and cherish.
8	Social Distancing	The distance individuals should keep from each other to lessen risk of virus transmission, usually about 2 meters or six feet.
9	Trade War	Colossal struggle between US and China with worldwide repercussions.
10	Sustainability	Creating an environment that supplies certain needs without comprmising future production.
11	Flatten the Curve	The ability to manage the number of case so as to not overwhelm the hospital system.
12	Lockdown	Restricting movement outside home or district.
13	Identity Politics	Politics based on certain elements of one’s makeup, such as skin color or ethic background, or gender.
14	Progressives	The word ‘liberal’ outlived its usefulness as the description of one’s political leanings.
15	Zoom	Group meetings held over videoconferencing channels.
16	Quarantine	Restricting physical movements to one’s home or institution, often separated from all others.
17	Migrants	People moving from one nation to another.
18	Donald Trump	Donald J. Trump, the 46th president of the US.
19	Symptoms	Physical conditions that may signify the presence of a virus or illness.
20	Outbreak	The seemingly sudden appearance of a disease in a community or geographic location.
21	CDC	The Centers fo Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia.
22	Conservatives	Political philosophy that favors saving the best from the past while moving toward the future.
23	Unemployment	Highest unemployment numbers the US has seen since the Great Recession — and possibly the Depression.
24	Climate Change	Climate change has ranked in the Top Ten for the last dozen years or so.
25	Hand Sanitizer	Washing one’s hands with an anti-bacterial soap for thirty seconds is a strong barrier against Covid-19.
26	White Privilege	Supposed advantages carried by Whites by virture of their ethnic heritage.
27	The Pandemic	Current global pandemic precipitated by SARS-CoV-2.
28	The Virus	Shorthand for Covid-19.
29	Work at Home	The result of social distancing guidelines where employees must stay separated from each other.
30	Stimulus	Massive $3 trillion+ funding effort by the US Federal Government to help keep families (and the economy) afloat.
31	George Floyd	George Floyd, a black American, was killed by a police officer kneeling on his neck for some eight minutes in Minneapolis. His death sparked global protests.
32	Black Lives Matter	A movement protesting police brutality against African-Americans.
33	Woke	The state of suddenly becoming aware of social injustices in the society.
34	Joe Biden	Presumptive presidential nominee of the Democrat Party against President Trump.
35	Wuhan	Largest city in Central China, capital of Hubei Province, population 11,000,000; original epicenter of the Covid-19 outbreak.
36	WHO	WHO – World Health Organization was established in 1948 by the United Nations as the agency overseeing international public health.
37	Disinfectant	A chemical agent that kills bacteria.
38	New Normal	The new reality of the pandemic-ravaged world.
38	MAGA	Campaign slogan of President Trump in 2016.
39	Fake News	Packaged news, planted sources, one-sided exposes, party lines, and official narratives are a new phenomenon only to those with no sense of history.
40	Shelter-in-place	Being confined to one’s home or institution to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
41	Nancy Pelosi	The Speaker of the House of Representatives; the highest ranked Democratic office holder.
42	Self Isolate	Quarantined for a minimum of 14 days after being exposed to Covid-19 to help stop the spread of the virus.
43	Dr. Anthony Fauci	Dr. Anthony Fauci is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
44	“I Can’t Breathe”	The last words uttered by George Floyd as he lay dying at the hands of Minneapolis police.
45	Essential Workers	Those workers who perform ‘essential’ tasks during the coronavirus pandemic, most notably in healthcare, food production and distribution, and the service sector.
46	Wet Market	Outdoor markets that offer recently slaughtered meat, fish and poultry; sometimes including live animals.
47	Impeach Trump	The Trump impeachment effort ended with a vote of acquittal on February 5, 2020, just as the pandemic was taking off in the US,
48	Defund Police	A movement to re-focus police departments to social welfare duties.
49	Super Spreader	A single person or event that propagates ‘clusters’ of the outbreak. Some 20% of infected super spreaders could be responsible for 80% of viral transmission.
50	Dr. Deborah Birx	Dr. Deborah Birx is the Coronavirus Response Coordinator, White House Coronavirus Task Force.
The Global Language Monitor

Typically, the Global Language Monitor ranks words, phrases, and names on three separate lists, and the lists are limited to 20 items. For this effort, GLM has combined the lists and extended the word count to 50 items.

Global Language Monitor began recording the Top Words of the Year in 2000 to document the history of the 21st Century through the English language, the world’s first truly global language. The words are culled throughout the English-speaking world, which as of January 2018 ranks more than 2.58 billion speakers. Global Language Monitor employs its NarrativeTracker technologies for global internet and social media analysis.

NarrativeTracker is based on global discourse, providing a real-time, accurate picture about any topic, at any point in time. NarrativeTracker analyzes the internet, blogosphere, and the top 300,000 print and electronic global media as well as new social media sources as they emerge.

In addition, the Global Language Monitor has also tracked the Top Words, Phrases and Names of the 21st Century.

More information about these and the company can be found at Languagemonitor.com.

About Global Language Monitor

Based in Austin, Texas, the Global Language Monitor collectively documents, analyzes and tracks trends in language usage worldwide, with a particular emphasis upon the English language. The company is known for its Word of the Year, political analysis, college and university rankings, high-tech buzzwords, and media analytics. For more information, visit Languagemonitor.com.

Media Contact:

Paul JJ Payack
info@languagemonitor.com

pjjp@post.Harvard.edu

1 737.215.7750

Source: Global Language Monitor

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Categories: International News, General Interest

Tags: 2020, data research, Global Language Monitor, language, Top Words of the Year, trending, trends, WOTY2020

December 24, 2019June 3, 2020

“Truth” is Top Word of the Year 2017 by The Global Language Monitor

The Only Analysis for Global English Worldwide

18th annual analysis by the Global Language Monitor

“Weinstein Effect” (and #MeToo) is the Top Phrase and Xi Jinping is the Top Name of 2017

Recently, The Global Language Monitor (GLM) announced that Truth is the Word of the Year for 2017.

To See the Top Words, Phrases, and Names of 2017, click here

A Brief Retrospective on the Nature of Truth and Why It Confuses Us So

To Read How GLM’s Top Words of the Year Record the History of the 21st Century, Thus Far, click here.

To Learn What the Top Words of the First Fifteen Years of the 21st c. Portend for the Rest of the Century, click here.

For Immediate Release,

For More Information, call 001.512.801.6823 or email info@LanguageMonitor.com.

December 2017, Austin, Texas (Updated) – Truth has been named the 2017 Word of the Year for Global English (#WOTY2017) by the Global Language Monitor, in its eighteenth annual global analysis. In addition, the Weinstein Effect has been named the Top Phrase and Chinese leader Xi Jingping the Top Name of 2017. Following ‘Truth’ were the words Narrative, Opioids, Awoke, and Nuclear Option. Rounding out the Top Ten were Deep State, Robot Apocalypse, Higher Level of Fake News, Blessee, and Lean Into.

“Since the turn of the century, the Global Language Monitor has been naming the words of global English that have had the most profound influence upon the language, the culture, and/or the world of the 21st century,” said Paul JJ Payack, President, and Chief Word Analyst. GLM ‘s methodology, true to its Silicon Valley heritage, is to examine the totality of Global English with the tools now available to better understand the underlying trends that shape our words and, hence, our world.”

GLM tracks the top trending words three times during the year before the final assessment is released at year end. Below are the Global Language Monitor’s 2017 Words of the Year for Global English.

Global Language Monitor’s 2017 Top Words of the Year for Global English

Rank, Word, Previous Rank, Definition

Truth (1) — Let’s face it. The conversation is all about truth, or lack thereof.
Narrative (2) — As GLM noted in ’08, Narratives began replacing facts in politics; a harbinger to ‘fake news’.
Opioids (10) — More deaths than gun violence and automobiles crashed combined.
Post-Truth (16) — Objective facts are less influential than appeals to emotion or the prevailing narrative.
Woke (New) — Awakening to issues of social and racial justice.
Brexit (4) — [United Kingdom] Definition according to Theresa May: “Brexit means Brexit”.
Blessee (New) — [RSA, South Africa] Those who are shown financial favor through a ‘Sugar Daddy’ (New)
Non-binary (13) — Gender identity defined as neither male nor female.
Anthropocene (15) — The current geological time period where human activities have had a major environmental impact on the Earth.
Latinx (11) — Neologism for the Hispanic heritage of any stripe.
Ransomware (New) — A type of malware where targeted sites are ‘captured’ and rendered useless until a ransom is paid to the hackers.
Tradie (New) — [Australia] Short for any worker in the trades: tradesmen, e.g., electricians (sparkies), truckers (truckies), chippies (carpenter) and the like.
Flip (New) — Any quick financial transact5on meant to turn a quick profit, particularly involving real estate.
Covfefe — The Trumpian Typo Heard ‘Round the world.
#Resist — From Latin resistere, from re- + sistere to take a stand
Appropriation (Cultural) — Now refers to the exploitation of an ‘ethnic’ culture by those of white European heritage.

Missed the Cut and former rank: Antifa (18), Alt-right (17), Bigly (5), and Populism (19)

Global Language Monitor’s 2017 Top Phrases of the Year for Global English

Rank, Word, Previous Rank, Definition Weinstein Effect (New) — (#MeToo) Emboldened women across the globe confront those who have been abused them in their past.

Weinstein Effect (and #MeToo) (New) — Emboldened women across the globe confront those who have been abused them in their past.
Nuclear Option (7) — The use of nuclear weapons by either side in the on-going and decades-long North Korean standoff.
Deep State (New) — The idea that entrenched bureaucracies, beholden to no one, controlling the ship of state with little concern for elected officials. In effect, a ‘Shadow’ government
For Real (FR) (New) — [Indian] It took a half a century for the hip lingo of Venice Beach to proliferate to the call centers of India as FR.
Robot Apocalypse (New) — The oncoming usurpation of Humankind by robots and other advanced forms of Artificial Intelligence.
Fake News (New) — A higher level (and far more dangerous method controlling the news) through special relationships, the tight control of events, planting sources, and keeping the actual facts to a tight inner circle.
Lean Into (New) — Being totally committed (or lean into) a cause, an initiative, or career choice.
Non-binary (13) — Gender identity defined as neither male nor female.
Memory Care (14) — Euphemism for treating Alzheimer and other forms of dementia
Cultural Appropriation — Now refers to the exploitation of an ‘ethnic’ culture by those of white European heritage.

Missed the Cut and former rank: Alt-right (17), Dumpster Fire (9), Nuclear Option for US Senate (6), and Safe Place (20).

Global Language Monitor’s 2017 Top Names of the Year

Rank, Name

Xi Jinping — General Secretary of the Communist Party of China
Donald J. Trump — President of the United States of America; Trump took the Top Honors in 2016 and 2015.
Pope Francis — Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church, the Bishop of Rome, and sovereign of Vatican City.
Angela Merkel — Angela Dorothea Merkel, Chancellor of Germany
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin — President of Russia
Theresa May — P)rime Minister of the United Kingdom
Kim Jung Un — North Korean Strongman
Narendra Modi — Prime Minister of India
Donald Tusk — President of the European Commission
Shinzō Abe — Prime Minister of Japan
Justin Trudeau — Prime Minister of Canada
Hurricane Harvey and Maria — Hurricanes that devastated Houston and Puerto Rico, respectively

Methodology: The words are culled from throughout the English-speaking world, which now numbers more than 2.35 billion speakers (January 2018 estimate) GLM employs its NarrativeTracker technologies for global Internet and social media analysis. NarrativeTracker is based on global discourse, providing a real-time, accurate picture about any topic, at any point in time. NarrativeTracker analyzes the Internet, blogosphere, the top 375,000 print and electronic global media, as well as new social media sources as they emerge.

About the Global Language Monitor

For more information, call 1.512.801-6823, email info@LanguageMonitor.com, or visit www.LanguageMonitor.com.

June 29, 2019June 2, 2020

GLM’s Top Words Record the History of the 21st Century, Thus Far

The Top Words of the Year Since the Turn of the Century

TRUTH: 2017 Word of the Year

Recently, The Global Language Monitor (GLM) announced that Truth is the Word of the Year for 2017.

To See the Top Words, Phrases, and Names of 2017, click here

A Brief Retrospective on the Nature of Truth and Why It Confuses Us So

To Read How GLM’s Top Words of the Year Record the History of the 21st Century, Thus Far, click here.

To Learn What the Top Words of the First Fifteen Years of the 21st c. Portend for the Rest of the Century, click here.

Austin, Texas, December 2017 — Since the turn of the century the Global Language Monitor has been using the most up-to-date analytical tools to track the growth and evolution of the English Language, now the first, second, or business language of some 2.38 billion people.

GLM has used these technologies to track many of the most significant trends to appear thus far in the 21st century.

In the recent past, some of the shifts first noted by the trend and narrative-tracking techniques of GLM include:

The use of number sequences as clearly defined words (Y2k, Web 2.0)
The use of Twitter as a new form of stylized human communication (2008/2009)
The introduction of emoji symbols as an addition to and transformation of the alphabet (2013/2014)
The rise of the Narrative presaging the rise of ‘fake news’ and the decline of ‘truth-based’ journalism. (2008)
The mounting impact of the ‘sustainability’ and ‘Green’ movements (2006)
The Rise of Microaggressions as a significant form of ‘bullying’ (2015)
The continued emergence of English as the first truly global language (2000-)
Big Data as the most frequently used but least understood word in High Technology (2011-)
The application of data mining techniques to global English to better understand the significance of global events and trends (2013)
The Rise of China as the most significant (and de-stabilizing) event of the 21st century, thus far. (2008)
Unveiling the racist underpinnings behind the rise of Fake News.

The Words of the Year chosen by the Global Language Monitor can be used to better understand the history of the 21st century, thus far.

The Top Words, Phrases, and Names since the Turn of the Century

2016

Top Words: No. 1 Meme, No. 2 Narrative, No. 3, #Resist
Top Phrases: No. 1 Make America Great Again No. 2 When they go low, we go high No. 3 The Electoral College
Top Names: No. 1 Donald Trump, No. 2 Vladimir Putin, No. 3 Neil Gorsuch

2015:
Top Words: No. 1 Microaggression (Safe Space, Trigger, Unsafe, Snowflake, White Privilege)
Top Phrases: No. 1 Migrant Crisis, No. 2 Je Suis Charlie, No. 3 Almond Shaming
Top Names: No. 1 Donald J. Trump, No. 2 Alan Kurdi, No. 3 Pope Francis

2014

Top Words: No. 1 The Heart ♥ Emoji (for love), No. 2 Hashtag, No. 3 Vape
Top Phrases: No. 1 Hands Up, Don’t Shoot; No. 2 Cosmic Inflation, No. 3 Global Warming
Top Names: No. 1 Ebola, No. 2 Pope Francis, No. 3 World War

2013:

Top Words: No. 1 ’404’, No.2 Fail, No.3 Hashtag
Top Phrases: No. 1 Toxic Politics, No. 2 Federal Shutdown, No.3 Global Warming/Climate Change
Top Names: No. 1. Pope Francis, No. 2 ObamaCare, No.3 NSA

2012:
Top Words: No. 1 Apocalypse / Armageddon, No.2 Deficit, No. 3 Olympiad
Top Phrases: No. 1 Gangnam Style, No. 2 Climate Change/Global Warming, No. 3 Fiscal Cliff
Top Names: No. 1 Newtown and Malala Yousafzai, No. 3 Xi Jinping

2011:
Top Words: No. 1 Occupy, No.2 Fracking, No.3 Drone
Top Phrases: No. 1 Arab Spring, No. 2 Royal Wedding, No.3 Anger and Rage
Top Names: No. 1 Steve Jobs, No. 2 Osama bin-laden and Seal Team Six, No.3 Fukushima

2010:
Top Words: No. 1 Spillcam, No. 2 Vuvuzela, No. 3 The Narrative
Top Phrases: No. 1 Anger and Rage, No. 2 Climate Change, No. 3 The Great Recession
Top Names: No. 1 Hu Jintao, paramount leader of China, No. 2 iPad, No. 3 Barack Obama

2009:
Top Words: No. 1 Twitter, No. 2 Obama-, No. 3 H1N1
Top Phrases: No. 1 King of Pop, No. 2 Obama-mania, No. 3 Climate Change
Top Names: No. 1 Obama, No. 2 Michael Jackson, No. 3 Mobama

2008:
Top Words: No. 1 Change, No. 2 Bailout, No. 3 Obama-mania
Top Phrases: No. 1 Financial Tsunami, No. 2 Global Warming, No. 3 “Yes, We Can!”
Top Names: No. 1 Barack Obama, No. 2 George W. Bush, No.3 Michael Phelps