Baseball, power and war - 2022's key words

Words of the year

Was 2022 defined by conflict, powerfulness cuts ... oregon a viral connection game? That's what connection experts astir the satellite person been trying to determine arsenic they nominate their words of the year.

Meaning: "A constituent scored successful shot erstwhile you deed the ball, usually retired of the playing field, and are capable to tally astir each the bases astatine 1 clip to the starting base."

Nominated by: The Cambridge Dictionary

Why: A homer is some the dependable of occurrence successful shot and thousands of aggravated Wordle fans throwing their telephone astatine the wall. The Cambridge Dictionary chose the word aft they saw a immense spike successful hunt postulation extracurricular North America from players of the viral crippled wondering what it meant

Meaning: War. The Japanese quality is pronounced otherwise - arsenic "sen" oregon "ikusa" - depending connected the connection and discourse successful which it is used

Nominated by: Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, nationalist poll

Why? One of the biggest quality events this twelvemonth was the struggle successful Ukraine, but the prime besides reflects tensions with North Korea arsenic good arsenic sporting competitions similar the World Cup and Winter Olympics

Meaning: War (Russia)

Nominated by: An autarkic panel, headed by a Russian prof based successful the US

Why? The panel's prime has peculiar value arsenic the Russian authorities inactive does not telephone its warfare a war, calling it alternatively a "special subject operation"

Meaning: When request for energy exceeds supply, a relation implements load shedding. A powerfulness cut, successful different words

Nominated by: The Pan South African Language Board

Why: South Africa's prime reflects a twelvemonth which saw its biggest ever powerfulness crisis. Rolling blackouts were common, arsenic the country's ageing powerfulness web and chiefly coal-fuelled powerfulness stations struggled to support up with demand

Meaning: Shrinkflation, erstwhile items get smaller adjacent arsenic terms stays the same

Nominated by: The Norwegian Language Council

Why? Inflation has stretched consumers astir the world, with precocious vigor and nutrient prices. Shrinkflation is 1 mode retailers person responded

Meaning: The enactment oregon signifier of grossly misleading someone, particularly for a idiosyncratic advantage. Its origins travel from a 30s play wherever a antheral tries to instrumentality his woman into believing she is insane

Nominated by: Merriam-Webster

Why? The US dictionary shaper says gaslighting is simply a "word for our time", pointing to however the decades-old word sits with much modern forms of deception, specified arsenic fake quality oregon deepfakery

Meaning: A turning constituent successful history. It tin beryllium translated respective ways, but astir means the extremity of an epoch and the opening of a caller one

Nominated by: The Society for the German Language

Why? Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz utilized the term pursuing Russia's penetration of Ukraine. In the aftermath, Germany transformed its defence, vigor and economical policies