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Words of the Year

2019 Word of the Year: Behind the Scenes

Editor Peter Sokolowski discusses 'they' and the rest of our Word of the Year 2019 selections


How did we choose they as our Word of the Year? Peter Sokolowski explains the data behind our decisions, and how this and the other Words of the Year reflect what was on people's minds this year.

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2019 Word of the Year: Behind the Scenes

 

How we chose 'they'

play body parts video
When Body Parts Are Also Verbs

 

Head, shoulders, metaphors, and toes

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Pictures in the Dictionary

 

The story of those iconic illustrations.

play video title attorney generals
Is It 'Attorney Generals' Or 'Attorneys General'?

 

'Poets laureate'? 'Court-martials'? The curious history of postpositive adjectives in English.

play serial comma
The Serial Comma Explained

 

Why don't they call it the Merriam-Webster comma?

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'All over sudden' vs. 'All of a sudden'

 

Figuring it out at once

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Sneaked vs. Snuck

 

How the irregular 'snuck' sneaked into the dictionary

Games & Quizzes

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Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
girl-pencil-test
Challenging Standardized Test Words Quiz Vol. 3 You’re on your own for the math section.
See All