What is the 2016 Word of the Year?

What is the 2016 Word of the Year?

The American dictionary Merriam-Webster has named “surreal” its 2016 Word of the Year.

Merriam-Webster’s Learner’s Dictionary defines the adjective as “very strange or unusual” or “having the quality of a dream.”

The word entered the English language in the 1930s, following the artistic¹ movement known as surrealism.

Merriam-Webster says searches for “surreal” rose after several world events and tragedies in the past year.

Major increases in the number of lookups directly followed the terrorist attacks in Belgium and France, the overthrow² attempt in Turkey, the Brexit vote, and the death of American musician Prince.

But, Merriam-Webster reports, the largest increase in searches for “surreal” came just after the United States presidential election last month.

Its meaning comes from the word’s two parts. The word “real” comes after the preposition “sur,” which means “above” or “over” in the French language.

“Surreal” is often used to describe something shocking. People might use the word when they cannot believe -- or do not want to believe -- reality.

"Surreal" can have a negative or positive meaning. For example, the Grand Canyon³ or a trip to the Moon could be described as surreal.

Other popular words of 2016 include revenant, icon⁴, and bigly, Merriam-Webster says.

Revenant means “one that returns after death.” It comes from the French verb for “return.” The Oscar-winning Hollywood film “The Revenant” drove this word’s popularity.

People searched for the word “icon” in high numbers following the death of pop star Prince. It means “a person who is very successful and admired.”

“Bigly” became hugely popular after many people thought U.S. President-elect Donald Trump⁵ used the word during a presidential debate.

People questioned whether the adjective “big” can be used as an adverb in the English language.

But language experts agreed that Trump actually said “big league.” This expression describes something very successful or high-level. Trump used it as an adverbial phrase.

Language experts also agreed that “bigly” is a word, although it is not often used.

Other dictionaries have also announced their 2016 words of the year.

The Oxford-English Dictionary chose “post-truth,” which describes situations in which “facts are less influential⁶ in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” The phrase became popular during the 2016 U.S. presidential elections.

Dictionary.com named “xenophobia” its Word of the Year. It means “fear or hatred⁷ of foreigners.” A huge increase in searches for the word happened on June 24 -- one day after Britain voted to leave the European Union.

Words in This Story

adjective - n. a word that describes a noun or a pronoun

lookup - n. the action of getting information electronically

adverb - n. a word that describes a verb, an adjective, another adverb, or a sentence and that is often used to show time, manner, place, or degree

1 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

2 overthrow   

v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆

参考例句：

• After the overthrow of the government,the country was in chaos.政府被推翻后，这个国家处于混乱中。
• The overthrow of his plans left him much discouraged.他的计划的失败使得他很气馁。

3 canyon   

n.峡谷，溪谷

参考例句：

• The Grand Canyon in the USA is 1900 metres deep.美国的大峡谷1900米深。
• The canyon is famous for producing echoes.这个峡谷以回声而闻名。

4 icon   

n.偶像，崇拜的对象，画像

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• Click on this icon to align or justify text.点击这个图标使文本排齐。

5 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

6 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

7 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。