Collins Dictionary’s word of the year is a confident, messy way of life
More than a “brat summer” – it may even be a brat year.
Collins Dictionary has named “brat” its word of the year for 2024, defining it as someone “characterized by a confident, independent, and hedonistic attitude.”
“More than a hugely successful album, ‘brat’ is a cultural phenomenon that has resonated with people globally, and ‘brat summer’ established itself as an aesthetic and a way of life,” the UK-based dictionary publisher said in a statement announcing this year’s choice.
The dictionary credited British singer Charli XCX with making “brat” one of the most talked-about words in 2024.
According to the singer, a brat is “that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things some times.”
“Who feels like herself but maybe also has a breakdown. But kind of, like, parties through it, is very honest, very blunt. A little bit volatile. Like, does dumb things. But it’s brat. You’re brat. That’s brat,” she said in a video explaining the word on TikTok.
In an interview with the BBC, Charli XCX outlined some items that make for a brat girl summer: “a pack of cigs, a Bic lighter, and a strappy white top with no bra.”
Accompanied by a virulent shade of lime green, the sights and sounds of brat were everywhere to be found this year – including in US Vice President Kamala Harris’ election campaign.
In July, Charli XCX gave Harris her seal of approval, proclaiming on X: “kamala IS brat.” Memes and t-shirts with Harris’ name in the “brat” style followed, with the vice president’s official rapid response account on X, @kamalahq, adopting a “brat”-style banner.
The singer explained her album color choice as “kind of the idea of making something like quite disgusting and turning it into this thing that you know people are going to look at quite a lot and think about and ask, you know, why that green?”
Other words shortlisted this year also have social media to thank for their growth in popularity.
Among them were “delulu,” meaning to be “utterly mistaken or unrealistic in one’s ideas or expectations,” and “looksmaxxing”, a word commonly used in online male communities that refers to “attempting to maximize the attractiveness of one’s physical appearance.”
The growing trend of “rawdogging” during travel – undertaking a journey without any form of entertainment – was also recognized on the shortlist.
On a more serious note, “anti-tourism” (in the wake of anti-tourist protests across Europe this summer) and “supermajority” (a large majority in a law-making body that enables a government to pass laws with little scrutiny) made the cut.
Last year, the dictionary named “AI” – “the modelling of human mental functions by computer programs” – as its word of the year, saying it was “considered to be the next great technological revolution.”
CNN’s Leah Dolan and Lisa Respers France contributed reporting.
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