Cambridge Dictionary has announced the official word of the year. Wanna guess what it is?
Well, for some background, the 2020 word of the year was “pandemic” 👀, 2021 was “vaccine”, 2022 was “gaslighting” and in 2023, it was “authentic”.
So if previous years gave you any clue, the 2024 word of the year has been revealed as manifest 💫.
According to the good old Cambridge dictionary, manifesting refers to the practice of “using methods such as visualisation and affirmation to imagine achieving something you desire, believing this will increase the likelihood of it happening.”
The self-help community has popularised the word “manifest” and the act of manifesting.
Endorsed by celebs like Dua Lipa who says she manifested her appearance at Glastonbury Festival, Olympic medalist Simone Biles and Roxie Nafousi, the “manifestation guru” who recently hosted her live shows right here in Dubai. In an exclusive interview last year, Roxie told us that there is nothing she hasn’t manifested in her life! 🔮
But where does the word come from? “Manifest” originates from Latin and French and originally meant “noticing”…fast forward to the 20th century, its meaning developed into “making something happen through internalisation, either intentionally or unintentionally”.
Cambridge Dictionary say the controversial word has been looked up 130,000 times this year and manifesting videos got “billions of views” on TikTok!
Other shortlisted words for this year included “brat”, inspired by Charli XCX’s album. Brat is characterised by someone with “a confident, independent and hedonistic attitude”, as per Collins Dictionary who chose brat as their word for 2024.
Another popular one this year, was “demure”, quiet or well-behaved but popularised by influencer Jools Lebron mocking it.
What’s your word of the year?
Since we’re talking words, how about checking out these literary gems?