2016 Word of the Year: Behind the Scenes

Editor Peter Sokolowski talks about 'surreal' and the rest of our Word of the Year 2016 selections

How did we choose surreal as our Word of the Year for 2016? Peter Sokolowski explains the data behind our decisions, and what that tells us about what people were thinking this year.

Don't miss our in-depth look at surreal and our gallery of top trending words from 2016.

Up next

Autoplay

2016 Word of the Year: Behind the Scenes

Editor Peter Sokolowski talks about 'surreal' and the rest of our Word of the Year 2016 selections

Up next

2016 Word of the Year: Behind the Scenes

How to Remember the Spelling of 'Definitely'

The Schwa

'All Intensive Purposes' or 'All Intents and Purposes'?

Why is there a 'd' in 'fridge' but not in 'refrigerator'?

'Nip it in the butt' or 'Nip it in the bud'?

Drive Safe: In Praise of Flat Adverbs

Games & Quizzes