Merriam-Webster WOTY 2022

Merriam-Webster, Inc. is an American publishing business well known for its dictionaries, and is the oldest dictionary publisher in the United States. George and Charles Merriam established the G & C Merriam Co. in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1831. Every year, Merriam-Webster decide upon a Word of the Year (WOTY) determined by the words that dictionary users have been searching, and words that reflect significant events that have taken place throughout the last twelve months.

Word of the Year 2022

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year in 2022 was 'gaslighting', a form of psychological abuse which leaves the victim questioning their own sense of reality. The now commonly used phrase comes from a 1938 play with the title 'Gas Light', a thriller based around the themes of deceit and trickery. Gaslighting is a fitting word for 2022, as disinformation, misinformation, and fake news have been worldwide topics of concern.

COVID-19 related words

Choosing words that help represent the global stage demonstrates the lingering effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. For 2020 and 2021, Merriam-Webster's WOTY were both pandemic related, with 'vaccine' and 'pandemic' being chosen. The selection of a Word of The Year is a popular practice among publishing companies worldwide, albeit their selections often differ. For example, the tumultuous nature of 2020 resulted in Oxford University Press not choosing one specific word of the year, and 2021's WOTY was 'vax'.