play word of the year 2015 video
Words of the Year

2015 Word of the Year: Behind the Scenes

Editor Peter Sokolowski talks about our Word of the Year selections.



The words people look up show our curiosity, and the lookups are just the beginning of reflection on and discussion of the topics that are on our minds.

See how we select our Word of the Year, along with the full list of words.

And get details about all the lookups, including the events that triggered them, at our Word of the Year Gallery.

Up next

play word of the year 2015 video
2015 Word of the Year: Behind the Scenes

 

Peter Sokolowski talks about the year's selections

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How a Word Gets into the Dictionary

 

What our editors are looking for when they enter words in Merriam-Webster.

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Thawing one of the mysteries of English

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The story of those iconic illustrations.