The Collins Dictionary has named ‘permacrisis’ the word of the year!

LONDON: The phrase ‘permacrisis’ was voted Britain’s word of the year on Tuesday in acknowledgment of a disastrous 2022, defeating competition from the likes of ‘Kyiv,’ ‘sportswashing,’ and ‘partygate’.  The term was described as ‘a protracted period of instability and insecurity’ in the yearly list put up by Collins Dictionary. As a result of Brexit, the Covid epidemic, extreme weather, the Ukraine conflict, political unrest, and a cost-of-living issue, it has become widely used. The executive director of Collins Learning, Alex Beecroft, commented that ‘Permacrisis puts up fairly eloquently exactly how absolutely bad 2022 has been for many individuals’.

The emergence of Kyiv as the favoured alternative to the Russian spelling of ‘Kiev’ indicated Britain’s support for Ukraine against Moscow’s invasion. The term ‘sportswashing’ describes the staging of prominent sporting events or the takeover of well-known teams by dubious regimes. Partygate was one of the several controversies that led to the resignation of British PM Boris Johnson this year. With King Charles III as its new ruler, Britain is currently on its third prime minister of 2022. The name ‘Carolean,’ which is derived from the Latin for Charles, was added to the Collins list following the passing of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, last month.

The word ‘warm bank’ was among others on the list; it refers to a location, such as a library or a house of worship, where financially stressed Britons who are scrambling to pay skyrocketing energy bills may go to find heating. Another was ‘quiet quitting,’ which is described as doing the bare minimum as a form of protest against your employer or to better balance your professional and personal lives. ‘This year’s list represents the current situation of the planet. There are glimmerings of promise, though, with the will of the Ukrainian people represented in the inclusion of ‘Kyiv,’ and the start of the new ‘Carolean’ period in the UK, Beecroft added. ‘ NFT’ was the 2016 Collins Word of the Year. The word for 2020 was ‘lockdown’.