Finally some good news: The word ‘kindness’ has been chosen as Children’s Word of the Year for 2024 after a survey of thousands of young people.
The word ‘kindness’ has been chosen as the Children’s Word of the Year following a survey by Oxford University Press (OUP).
More than 3,000 children aged six to14 were asked for their suggestions, with the top three then put to vote by a further 2,000 children.
More than half of the children (61%) said ‘kindness’ was their chosen word of the year for 2024.
‘Artificial intelligence’ came second, chosen by a quarter (25%) of children surveyed, and 53% of the children who selected the word associated it with positive adjectives including ‘excited’ and ‘optimistic’.
When it comes to their favourite slang words, ‘slay’ came top, closely followed by ‘sigma’ (a popular Gen Alpha term that refers to a person who is successful, acts independently and is typically self-sufficient) and ‘skibidi’ (a term with no inherent meaning that can be used as an adjective to mean cool, bad or stupid).
We’re pretty sure you’re familiar with ‘slay’ – but just in case, it doesn’t refer to a violent kill but rather to a person who has greatly impressed or aced something. It is prominent in the LGBTQ community and the word surged in popularity following RuPaul’s Drag Race and Beyoncé’s song ‘Formation’.
Andrea Quincey, director of early years and primary publishing at OUP, said: “It is so encouraging that kindness has been voted — by a considerable majority — as the Oxford Children’s Word of the Year for 2024. We know from previous years that young people are very conscious of the big issues that can divide us as a society and attuned to the important role which language can play in bringing people together.”
She continued: “This choice suggests something more personal: an awareness of mental health issues and of the hidden challenges others may be facing. It tells us that empathy and tolerance and the language we use matter, and that kindness is not only a solution to so many problems but is something everyone and anyone can do to make a difference.”
The word ‘Queen’ was named Children’s Word of the Year for 2022, following the death of the King’s mother Elizabeth II, while the Children’s Word of the Year for 2023 was ‘climate change’.
Other Words of the Year for 2024 include Collins Dictionary choosing ‘Brat’, Cambridge Dictionary going for ‘Manifest’, Merriam-Webster selecting ‘Polarization’ and Oxford Dictionary electing ‘Brain rot’ as their official 2024 pick.
