Dictionary.com names 'woman' its word of the year for 2022
Dictionary.com selected "woman" as its word of the year for 2022. Searches for the word on the Dictionary.com site doubled this year compared to previous years, boosted by questions about what it means to be a woman.
"It's one of the oldest words in the English language. One that's fundamental not just to our vocabulary but to who we are as humans. And yet it's a word that continues to be a source of intense personal importance and societal debate. It's a word that's inseparable from the story of 2022," the digital dictionary company wrote about its word choice.
“This year, the very matter of the definition of the word ‘woman’ was at the center of so many consequential moments, discussions, and decisions in our society,” said John Kelly, senior director of editorial at Dictionary.com.
Indeed, searches for the word "woman" spiked more than 1400% on the site in March during the Supreme Court confirmation hearing for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. Specifically, the surge in lookups occurred after Senator Marsha Blackburn asked the judicial nominee to define the word "woman." The 1400% surge was described as a "massive leap for such a common word.”
During the hearing in March, Blackburn asked the Supreme Court nominee, "Can you provide a definition for the word 'woman'?"
"I can't," Jackson said.
"You can't?" Blackburn asked.
Jackson responded, "Not in this context—I'm not a biologist."
"The meaning of the word woman is so unclear and controversial that you can't give me a definition?" Blackburn asked.
"The prominence of the question and the attention it received demonstrate how issues of transgender identity and rights are now frequently at the forefront of our national discourse. More than ever, we are all faced with questions about who gets to identify as a woman (or a man, or neither). The policies that these questions inform transcend the importance of any dictionary definition—they directly impact people's lives," Dictionary.com wrote in a press release.
Nonetheless, Dictionary.com does provide several definitions for "woman" on its site (the word can apparently also function as a verb). "An adult female person" is the primary meaning listed. Although the site’s definitions sidestep transgender identity, the site qualified in a statement, "the dictionary is not the last word on what defines a woman. The word belongs to each and every woman—however they define themselves."
The Human Rights Campaign is more explicit on how trans women fit into the definition of womanhood. "When we say women, that word always includes trans women. There are no ifs, ands or buts about it. A woman's gender identity is her innermost concept of being female. A trans woman's gender identity doesn't define or caveat her womanhood; it simply describes her journey to womanhood," they explain.
Unfortunately, many like Blackburn don't subscribe to this definition—which is why "woman" remains a controversial word, even in 2022. In fact, according to a Pew Research survey, six-in-ten U.S. adults believe a person's gender is determined by the sex assigned at birth.
The Supreme Court hearings weren't the only time “woman” definitions were questioned in the news this year. Earlier in 2022, questions were raised about who should be categorized as a woman for collegiate sports teams and about whether Lia Thomas, a trans woman swimmer at the University of Pennsylvania, had an unfair biological advantage in her sport.
And some thought we shouldn't be defining gender at all, at least in schools. In March, Florida Governor Ron Desantis signed a law that prevents kindergarten through third-grade teachers from discussing gender and sexual orientation in class. The law also restricts what teachers can say in upper grades to what is developmentally appropriate but doesn't state what is considered suitable for older kids.
Clearly, there are still competing perspectives on what it means to be a woman. In addition to searches related to gender identity, lookups for the word "woman" on Dictionary.com also spiked after the leak of the Supreme Court Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade and again after the decision was officially released. Interestingly, these searches were accompanied by an increase in the number of people looking up the word "autonomy."
