Merriam-Webster picks 'authentic' as 2023 word of the year

In a year where AI, celebrity culture, identity and social media became a center of conversation, it's only fitting that Merriam-Webster's word of the year is "authentic."

In a news release, the dictionary said that while the word has had a high number of searches in previous years, it saw a substantial increase in 2023.

“We see in 2023 a kind of crisis of authenticity,” editor at large Peter Sokolowski told The Associated Press. “What we realize is that when we question authenticity, we value it even more.”

A constant spike in searches

Sokolowski said that this year, searches for the word was not boosted at any one point in time but consistently throughout the year.

Sokolowski said the company's data crunchers filter out commonly looked-up words like “love” and “affect” vs. “effect” as they search for words that have high lookups online. Sokolowski added that this year the company also had to filter out numerous five-letter words because Wordle and Quordle players were searching for them.

Authentic self. Authentic voice. All are phrases that have made headlines this year. The dictionary pointed to celebrities like singers Lainey Wilson, Sam Smith, and Taylor Swift who have made headlines this year about seeking their “authentic voice” and “authentic self.”

"Authentic has a number of meanings including 'not false or imitation,' a synonym of real and actual; and also 'true to one’s own personality, spirit, or character.' Although clearly a desirable quality, authentic is hard to define and subject to debate − two reasons it sends many people to the dictionary," Merriam-Webster's said.

Merriam-Webster word of the year:'Gaslighting' is Merriam-Webster's 2022 word of the year: 'We do hope you’ll trust us'

AI, deepfakes lead the way for 'authentic'

The rise of artificial intelligence and deepfakes has led to a "blurred line" between what's real and what's fake, the dictionary noted.

“Can we trust whether a student wrote this paper? Can we trust whether a politician made this statement? We don’t always trust what we see anymore,” Sokolowski said. “We sometimes don’t believe our own eyes or our own ears. We are now recognizing that authenticity is a performance itself.”

Last year's word of the year was "gaslighting," which saw a 1,740% increase in search.

This year is the 20th anniversary of Merriam-Webster choosing a top word.

2021: Merriam-Webster selects 'vaccine' as the word of the year  

Merriam-Webster word of the year:Merriam-Webster selected 'vaccine' in 2021

Other top searched words

Here are the other top-searched words and terms for 2023:

Rizz

Deepfake

Coronation

Dystopian

EGOT

X

Implode

Doppleganger

Covenant

Indict

Elemental

Kibbutz

Deadname