‘Feminism’ is Word of the Year, So Let’s Try Some Word Association

Online dictionary Merriam-Webster has made ‘feminism’ its word of the year.

(Photo: The Quint)

This year was a year of “silence breakers,” marching to break the shackles of patriarchy. The spirit of these undaunted women has led online dictionary Merriam-Webster to make "feminism" the word of the year. The well-engineered movements of equality have increased the collective curiosity of the world, making "feminism"the most searched word on its website.

So we decided to play a little word association with people at The Quint. Watch the video below to see what is the first thing that struck Quintees on hearing the word ‘feminism’.

Peter Sokolowski, Merriam Webster's Editor-at-Large, said there has been a 70 percent increase in searches of the word over the previous years.

The spike was seen after political events, that triggered the women’s march in Washington DC. News reports on harassment also contributed to the curiosity towards what the word means.

In the event of women coming out to accuse Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment and molestation, the search for the keyword surged on the website of the online dictionary, especially after #MeToo kickstarted an online campaign to encourage women to speak about their experiences of harassment, molestation and rape.

Similar spikes were also seen after the release of women-centric television shows such as ‘The Handmaid's Tale’ based on the novel of the same name written by Canadian author Margaret Atwood and the film ‘Wonder Woman’, Sokolowski said.

The first dictionary reference of the word ‘feminism’ was made in 1841, but of course the meaning of the word has changed since.

A few other words that piqued people’s interests this year includes “complicit” after a Saturday Night Live skit based on Ivanka Trump. Some others are “Gyro”, “federalism”, “recuse” and “syzygy.”