What’s real and isn’t? Merriam-Webster’s word of the year authentic reflects it’s difficult to tell

When Merriam-Webster announced that its word of the year for 2023 was “authentic”, it did so with over a month to go in the calendar year.

Even then, the dictionary publisher was late to the game.

In a lexicographic form of Christmas creep, Collins English Dictionary announced its 2023 word of the year, “AI,” on October 31. Cambridge University Press followed suit on November 15 with “hallucinate,” a word used to refer to incorrect or misleading information provided by generative AI programs.

At any rate, terms related to artificial intelligence appear to rule the roost, with “authentic” also falling under that umbrella.

AI and the authenticity crisis

For the past 20 years, Merriam-Webster, the oldest dictionary publisher in the US, has chosen a word of the year – a term that encapsulates, in one form or another, the zeitgeist of that past year. In 2020, the word was “pandemic”. The next year’s winner? “Vaccine.”

“Authentic” is, at first glance, a little less obvious.

According to the publisher’s editor-at-large, Peter Sokolowski, 2023 represented “a kind of crisis of authenticity”. He added that the choice was also informed by the number of online users who looked up the word’s meaning throughout the year.

The word “authentic,” in the sense of something that is accurate or authoritative, has its roots in French and Latin. The Oxford English...

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