SA Word of the Year 2023 revealed
Which word will be crowned South Africa's Word of the Year in 2023?
Every year, new words enter the mainstream and for some of us older folks, it can be hard to keep up with it all.
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Whether it's 'lit' or 'unhinged', language is constantly evolving and it's not just slang that we need to keep up with.
There are trending topics, important events, and just daily life that can lead to some words being used so often that they almost become our favourites.
With loadshedding being an obvious exception.
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Some words become such a big part of culture that they need to be added to the dictionary!
In celebration of International Dictionary Day on the 16th of October, the Pan South African Language Board have officially revealed the mainstream media and social media 2023 Word of the Year:
The shortlist
While some of these contenders have obvious reasons for being on the list, others might need a bit of explaining.
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Luckily, our newscast editor, Christelle du Toit, and an official Gen Z-er helped provide some insight on some of these words not all of us might be familiar with:
@jacarandafm942 What South African words do you think should be added to the 2023 list? #JacaDrive #explainedwell #fyp #tshwane #tiktoksa #johannesburg #gauteng #pretoria #10past4 #bathong #zulu #sesotho #danko #kuningi #cima #ivalemfana #language ♬ original sound - Jacaranda FM
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Main image courtesy of Pan South African Language Board Website