The Merriam-Webster dictionary chose “they” as the word of the year for 2019 after announcing earlier this year that it had added a singular definition to the pronoun.
“English famously lacks a gender-neutral singular pronoun to correspond neatly with singular pronouns like everyone or someone, and as a consequence, they has been used for this purpose for over 600 years,” the group wrote in its announcement. “More recently, though, they has also been used to refer to one person whose gender identity is nonbinary, a sense that is increasingly common in published, edited text, as well as social media and in daily personal interactions between English speakers.”
The group added, “There’s no doubt that its use is established in the English language, which is why it was added to the Merriam-Webster.com dictionary this past September.”
Merriam-Webster noted that searches for the word “they” were up 313% in the past year, which is likely the result of several public declarations regarding a singular use of the pronoun. Beyond Merriam-Webster’s definition change, Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal announced that her child identifies as nonbinary and uses the pronoun “they.” Singer Sam Smith did the same.
Additionally, the American Psychological Association recommended that authors use “they” instead of “he or she” when researchers do not know the gender of the individual being described.
The word ‘they’
– was looked up 313% more this year than last.
– had a new sense added in September.
– is increasingly common in both public and personal communication.‘They’ is our 2019 #WordOfTheYear.https://t.co/i7QlIv15M3
— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) December 10, 2019
There were several other politically charged words that Merriam-Webster honored in its annual list, including “impeach” and the Latin phrase “quid pro quo.” Previous words of the year have also had political connotations, including “socialism” and “feminism,” from 2012 and 2017, respectively.
