This may or may not come as a surprise: Merriam-Webster鈥檚 word of the year for 2017 is 鈥渇eminism.鈥�
Yes, it鈥檚 been a big year or two or 100 for the word. In 2017, lookups for feminism increased 70 per cent over 2016 on Merriam-Webster.com and spiked several times after key events, lexicographer Peter Sokolowski, the company鈥檚 editor at large, told The Associated Press ahead of Tuesday鈥檚 annual word reveal.
There was the Women鈥檚 March on Washington in January, along with sister demonstrations around the globe. And heading into the year was Democrat Hillary Clinton鈥檚 presidential campaign and references linking her to white-clad suffragettes, along with her loss to President Donald Trump, who once boasted about grabbing women.
The 鈥淢e Too鈥� movement rose out of Harvey Weinstein鈥檚 dust, and other 鈥渟ilence breakers鈥� brought down rich and famous men of media, politics and the entertainment worlds.
Feminism has been in Merriam-Webster鈥檚 annual Top 10 for the last few years, including sharing word-of-the-year honours with other 鈥渋sms鈥� in 2015. Socialism, fascism, racism, communism, capitalism and terrorism rounded out the bunch. Surreal was the word of the year last year.
鈥淭he word feminism was being use in a kind of general way,鈥� Sokolowski said by phone from the company鈥檚 headquarters in Springfield, Massachusetts. 鈥淭he feminism of this big protest, but it was also used in a kind of specific way: What does it mean to be a feminist in 2017? Those kinds of questions are the kinds of things, I think, that send people to the dictionary.鈥�
Feminism鈥檚 roots are in the Latin for 鈥渨oman鈥� and the word 鈥渇emale,鈥� which dates to 14th century English. Sokolowski had to look no further than his company鈥檚 founder, Noah Webster, for the first dictionary reference, in 1841, which isn鈥檛 all that old in the history of English.
鈥淚t was a very new word at that time,鈥� Sokolowski said. 鈥淗is definition is not the definition that you and I would understand today. His definition was, 鈥楾he qualities of females,鈥� so basically feminism to Noah Webster meant femaleness. We do see evidence that the word was used in the 19th century in a medical sense, for the physical characteristics of a developing teenager, before it was used as a political term, if you will.鈥�
Webster added the word in revisions to his 鈥淎n American Dictionary of the English Language.鈥� They were his last. He died in 1843. He also added the word terrorism that year.
鈥淲e had no idea he was the original dictionary source of feminism. We don鈥檛 have a lot of evidence of what he was looking at,鈥� Sokolowski said.
Today, Merriam-Webster defines feminism as the 鈥渢heory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes鈥� and 鈥渙rganized activities on behalf of women鈥檚 rights and interests.鈥�
Another spike for the word feminism in 2017 occurred in February, after Kellyanne Conway spoke at the Conservative Political Action Committee.
鈥淚t鈥檚 difficult for me to call myself a feminist in the classic sense because it seems to be very anti-male and it certainly seems to be very pro-abortion. I鈥檓 neither anti-male or pro-abortion,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 an individual feminism, if you will, that you make your own choices. 鈥� I look at myself as a product of my choices, not a victim of my circumstances. And to me, that鈥檚 what conservative feminism is all about.鈥�
She was applauded, and she sent many people to their dictionaries, Sokolowski said. The company would not release actual lookup numbers.
Other events that drew interest to the word feminism was the popular Hulu series, 鈥淭he Handmaid鈥檚 Tale,鈥� and the blockbuster movie, 鈥淲onder Woman,鈥� directed by a woman, Patty Jenkins, Sokolowski said.
Merriam-Webster had nine runners-up, in no particular order:
鈥� Complicit , competitor Dictionary.com鈥檚 word of the year.
鈥� Recuse , in reference to Jeff Sessions and the Russia investigation.
鈥� Empathy , which hung high all year.
鈥� Dotard , used by Kim Jong-un to describe Trump.
鈥� Syzygy , the nearly straight-line configuration of three celestial bodies, such as the sun, moon and earth during a solar or lunar eclipse.
鈥� Gyro , which can be pronounced three different ways, a phenom celebrated in a Jimmy Fallon sketch on 鈥淭he Tonight Show.鈥�
鈥� Federalism , which Lindsey Graham referred to in discussing the future of the Affordable Care Act.
鈥� Hurricane , which Sokolowski suspects is because people are confused about wind speed.
鈥� Gaffe , such as what happened at the Academy Awards when the wrong best picture winner was announced. That was a go-to word for the media, Sokolowski said.
Leanne Italie, The Associated Press
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