American Dialect Society Word of the Year 2020 (Registration Required)

With its annual meeting cancelled, the American Dialect Society is holding this year's Word of the Year vote via Zoom webinar, sponsored by Duke University Press. Register to watch this free Livestream!

You can also make up to five nominations when you register. Your nominations should be some or all of the following:

- widely used,
- new or newly popular,
- significant to the happenings of 2020, and/or indicative of public discourse and national preoccupations in 2020.

Single words, phrases, compounds, catch phrases, hashtags, and other types of brief written or spoken communication are accepted as nominations.

Since 1990, the American Dialect Society has selected words of the year to highlight language change, to bring a few aspects of the study of linguistics to the public's attention, and to have a little bit of fun. The lighthearted vote is usually held each year at the time of the society's annual convention. This year's vote, for the first time, will be held virtually. Past words-of-the-year votes are here.

If you would like to submit nominations for Word of the Year without registering for the event, you can email them to woty@americandialect.org.

Learn more about the American Dialect Society, including membership and how to support it with your donations, at https://americandialect.org.