Ranveer Singh's Rizz, Dystopian Yamuna and Deadname of a transgender boy: Words of the Year
In a world troubled by AI, deepfakes and engineered facts, Merriam-Webster has picked 'authentic' as the word of the year for 2023 to acknowledge a chasing after authenticity in our words and deeds. "We see in 2023 a kind of crisis of authenticity," editor at large Peter Sokolowski told AP. "We sometimes don't believe our own eyes or our own ears. We are now recognizing that authenticity is a performance itself." Here are the words that made the list and the photos that make them
Image: Madhu Kapparath
1. AUTHENTIC
Ustad Rashid Khan sings Raga Malkauns (vilambit khayal in ektaal "Per na jaane re balama" from the album The Genius of Ustad Rashid Khan) at the Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra in Delhi, March 12, 2023. Authentic has several meanings, including "not false or imitation," a synonym of real and actual, and also "true to one's own personality, spirit, or character."
Image: SUJIT JAISWAL / AFP2. RIZZ
Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh charms Alia Bhatt onstage as showstoppers for fashion designer Manish Malhotra's creations at The Bridal couture show in Mumbai on July 20, 2023.
(L) Social media influencer Zara Patel in the original video. (R) The deepfake video of Rashmika Mandhanna3. DEEPFAKE
A video of actor Rashmika Mandhanna entering an elevator, dressed in a black body-hugging yoga suit, went viral earlier this year. The original video was of social media influencer Zara Patel, and the deepfake video was morphed to show Mandhanna's face. The incident has triggered a state enquiry into AI and its potential consequences in the future.
Image: Yui Mok - WPA Pool/Getty Images4. CORONATION
Prince William kisses his father, King Charles III, wearing St Edward's Crown, during the King's Coronation Ceremony inside Westminster Abbey on May 6, 2023, in London, England.
Image: Amarjeet Kumar Singh/Anadolu via Getty Images5. DYSTOPIAN
A swathe of toxic foam surrounds devotees performing rituals to the Sun god after wading into the polluted waters of the river Yamuna at Noida, Delhi NCR, on November 19, 2023.
Image: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images6. EGOT
"I just EGOT!" exclaimed Viola Davis upon winning a Grammy for the audiobook reading of her memoir—adding to the Emmy, Oscar, and Tony awards she had already received—during the 65th Grammy Awards on February 05, 2023, in Los Angeles, California. This rare accomplishment is referred to by a word made up of the first letters of each award.
Image: Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images7. X
Elon Musk's rebranding of Twitter as X merely coveted an aspect of this unusually flexible letter, representing many meanings and functions.
Image: Handout / OceanGate Expeditions / AFP8. IMPLODE
Under the colossal deep-sea water pressure, the Titan deep-diving tourist submersible underwent a catastrophic implosion, an inward collapse in other words, crushing the sub's carbon-fibre hull with five people on board on June 18, 2023, below the North Atlantic.
Image: Geovien So/SOPA/LightRocket via Getty Images9. DOPPELGANGER
A file photo of Howard X, impersonating North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, poses with his inflatable rocket before heading inside the police station to report his bail in Hong Kong, China.
Image: Shutterstock10. COVENANT
The book of Psalms in the Old Testament of the Bible depicting the life of David. A covenant is a formal, binding contract or agreement between two or more parties. As the key to God's redemptive plan to restore humanity to its divine calling, covenants are one of the most important themes in the Bible.
Image: Seth Wenig-Pool/Getty Images/AFP11. INDICT
Former US President Donald Trump sits with his defence team in a Manhattan court following an indictment by a grand jury that heard evidence about money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election on April 4, 2023, in New York City. With the indictment, Trump becomes the first former US president in history to be charged with a criminal offence.
Image: Courtesy Pixar12. ELEMENTAL
Simply, as elemental as air, water, fire, and earth, though the word lookups spiked when the new Pixar film Elemental was theatrically released in the United States on June 16, 2023, in RealD 3D, 4DX, and Dolby Cinema formats.
Image: Ilan Rosenberg / Reuters13. KIBBUTZ
Refers to a communal farm or settlement in Israel like this aerial view of Kibbutz Krar Aza in southern Israel, October 10, 2023.
Image: Susana Vera / Reuters
