Brat is officially the word of 2024 according to Collins Dictionary - who have been picking the word or phrase that best defined a year since 2013.
Defined as someone with a "confident, independent and hedonistic attitude" it has been inspired by the release of pop artist Charli XCX’s sixth studio album in June which led to the so-called ‘Brat Summer’.
It beat a shortlist of words that also included Brainrot, era, looksmaxxing, rawdogging, anti-tourism, delulu, romantsy, supermajority and yapping.
A spokesperson for Collins said: “’Brat’ has become one of the most talked about words of 2024. It resonated with people globally and ‘brat summer’ established itself as an aesthetic and a way of life”.
Here we’re taking a look at all 12 words of the year to date - and the shortlisted losers.
5. 2020: Lockdown
There was only going to be one winner in 2020 as the world came to a standstill during the Global Pandemic and 'lockdown' (and the various/varying rules pertaining to it) entered the lexicon. The other mainly Covid-centric candidates were Coronavirus, BLM, key worker, furlough, self-isolate, social distancing, Megxit, TikToker and mukbang. | Canva/Getty Images
6. 2019: Climate Strike
Collins defines 2019's word of the year, 'Climate Strike', as "a form of protest in which people absent themselves from education or work in order to join demonstrations demanding action to counter climate change." It was the year when tens of thousands of school pupils walked out of class to show the adults how worried they were about environmental issues. The shortlist also included bopo, cancel, deepfake, double down, entryist, hopepunk, influencer, nonbinary and rewilding. | Contributed
7. 2018: Single-use
Simply meaning "made to be used once only", 'single-use' led the way in 2018 due to increasing awareness of the impact single-use plastics were havingon the environment, from bags and straws, to disposable cutlery and cups. The other words highlighted were backstop, floss, gammon, gaslight, MeToo, plogging, VAR, vegan and whitewash. | Canva/Getty Images
8. 2017: Fake news
A phrase beloved of US President Donald Trump, Collins defines 'fake news' as something that "is false even though it is being reported as news, for example by the media". Sometimes it feels life the definition should be "news I disagree with". 2017's other key words were Antifa, corbynmania, cuffing season, echo chamber, fidget spinner, gender-fluid, gig economy, Insta and unicorn. | Canva/Getty Images