EDL.ECML.AT/WORDOFTHEYEAR

Word of the year

Every year, countries throughout Europe participate in the tradition of selecting a "word of the year." Here are the words from the previous year!

Word of the year

Every year, countries throughout Europe participate in the tradition of selecting a "word of the year." This practice involves choosing a single word or phrase that reflects the social, cultural, or political trends and events of the year. The word of the year serves as a symbolic representation of the collective consciousness and prevailing themes within a society. It captures the zeitgeist and becomes a reflection of the shared experiences, concerns, and aspirations of the people.

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Word of the year 2023

Luxembourg 2024

Presidententrick

President Scam

A wave of scams has occurred in Luxembourg, that have come to be called the "president scam". It is a form of scamming where the scammer pretends to be the president or CEO of a company, urging the victim to transfer money.

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Italy 2024

Rispetto

Respect

Lack of respect is at the root of discrimination and violence. The word "respect" was chosen as the word of the year to make a statement against specifically gendered violence, but also violence in general.

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Belgium 2024

Aura

Aura

"Aura" has become to mean positive and impactful charisma. The word is especially used when talked about of social media influencing.

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United Kingdom 2024

Brain rot

In the age of extensive consumption of social media content, this word describes the downfall of an individual's intellectual state due to overconsumption of "trivial and unchallenging" content.

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United Kingdom 2024

Manifest

"Manifest" has been lately used by a number of well-known celebrities, as they have advocated a mental strategy to "manifest" one's future success. That is, imagining your future success so deeply that it becomes the reality. However, critics have warned that this has no actual basis and there is no guarantees that "manifesting" will work.

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Spain 2024

Dana

Isolated high-level depression (meteorology)

"Dana" comes from "depresión aislada en niveles altos", which translates to isolated high-level depression. This refrers to a meteorological phenomenon that was behind the devastating storms that Spain faced in November 2024. After the storm the usage of the word in news and social media increased massively.

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Switzerland 2024

Cessez-le-feu

Cease-fire

As wars in Ukraine and Palestine have been among the most followed news around Europe, talks and specuation on potential cease-fires have been ongoing for months (as of April 2025). In Switzerland, as well as in many other countries, "cease-fire" has been used extensively throughout last year. International community should now work towards having cease-fires that would last and be respected.

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Switzerland 2024

Unterschriften-Bschiss

Signature fraud

In Switzerland too, financial frauds were in the headlines during 2024. The word of the year for the German speaking Swiss is the "signature fraud", which refers to forging fake signatures for documents and appeals.

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Portugal 2024

Liberdade

Liberty

In April 2024, fifty years came to pass from the April 25th Revolution that took place in 1974.

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Austria 2024

Renaturierung

Renaturation

Renaturation refers to ecological restoration of an area that has been damaged or transformed by human activity. In Austria, the debate on renaturation has been on the table in politics.

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Germany 2024

Ampel-Aus

Traffic light-out

The German government in 2024 led by Olaf Scholz came to be known as the traffic light coalition, since it included such a colorful variety of parties. Traffic light-out (ampel-aus) was experienced when this coalition stepped down.

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