Dictionary.com’s 2019 Word of the Year is everyone RN.
The website correctly chose “existential” to represent the past 11 months.
“It captures a sense of grappling with the survival—literally and figuratively—of our planet, our loved ones, our way of life,” according to an official announcement.
Sounds about right.
“But, ‘existential’ also inspires us to ask big questions about who we are and what our purpose is in the face of our various challenges,” the reference site said. “And it reminds us that we can make choices about our lives in how we answer those questions.”
The adjective is defined in two senses:
- “Of or relating to existence” (1600s): Often used when the fact of someone or something’s being—its very existence—is at stake; an existential threat, for instance.
- “Concerned with the nature of human existence as determined by the individual’s freely made choices” (1900s): Related to existentialism, a philosophy that affirms individual agency is making meaningful, authentic choices about our lives; an existential crisis, for example.
“Exist,” “existence,” and “existential” all derive from the Latin verb ex(s)istere, meaning “to come forth, appear, emerge, arise, be.”
“Existentialism,” meanwhile, was borrowed from the German name for the philosophical movement Existentialismus, first recorded in 1919.
So what’s it got to do with 2019?
Well, for everyone who didn’t just crawl out from under a rock, it’s been a year of existential change: climate change, gun violence, political protest, and security breaches.
Just say the word “Brexit” to a Brit and watch them grow sweaty with anxiety.
Through all the doom and gloom, though, we’re also using existential humor to keep from crying.
Most notably, the world laughed along with Toy Story 4‘s “existential spork” Forky, who must work through crisis to discover his purpose as a toy that brings happiness and comfort to a child.
“Forky’s existential crisis resonates with audiences because we all think at one time or another, ‘What’s my purpose in life?'” film director Josh Cooley told Dictionary.com.
“Examining what it means to be alive through the googly eyes of a disposable utensil, used for soup, salad, or maybe chili, has use questioning our purpose beyond what we think we are and what we can be,” he continued. “The food is just the metaphor, but Forky’s journey is our journey, and he reminds us not to throw ourselves away.”
As the website explains, Forky’s quest affirms how humans can turn existential threats into existential choices.
For some, an existential crisis may lead to personal discovery, perhaps the realization that one is nonbinary—Dictionary.com’s Word of the Year runner-up.
The 2019 runner-up Word of the Year (via Dictionary.com)
Relating to a person whose gender identity falls outside the masculine/feminine binary, the term has gained attention recently thanks to folks like Sam Smith, Jill Soloway, Ezra Miller, Rose McGowan, Amandla Stenberg, and Jonathan Van Ness (who just became the first non-female-identifying figure to front Cosmopolitan UK in 35 years).
“Nonbinary as much represents important trends in our data and lexicography in 2019 as it serves as the flip side to 2019’s mood of threat and crisis,” Dictionary.com said.
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