The word wonks at Merriam-Webster have made a genuine decision for the dictionary’s 2023 word of the year: authentic.
“A high-volume lookup most years, ‘authentic’ saw a substantial increase in 2023, driven by stories and conversations about AI, celebrity culture, identity, and social media,” the announcement explained.
“The rise of AI helped drive interest in the word,” Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster’s editor at large, writes. “The line between ‘real’ and ‘fake’ has become increasingly blurred. As a result, in social media and marketing, authentic has become the gold standard for building trust — and authenticity, ironically, has become a performance.”
The announcement continues, “Authentic has a number of meanings including ‘not false or imitation,’ a synonym of real and actual; and also ‘true to one’s own personality, spirit, or character.’ Although clearly a desirable quality, authentic is hard to define and subject to debate — two reasons it sends many people to the dictionary.”
“As always,” adds Sokolowski, “our top lookups offer a window into the world — revealing experiences and ideas that shaped the year.”
To that end, another popular word for the year: “rizz,” internet slang for “romantic appeal or charm,” which is both a noun and a verb.
Also, “deepfake” was popular, as in “an 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.”
And another popular search this year was “coronation,” and King Charles‘ rise to the British throne was to thank for that.