List of the year’s new words has landed. Do you know what Putin prices, epadunk, selfie museums and permacrisis mean?
After the pandemic subsided, other crises came to mark the New Year of 2022: the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis, rampant inflation and new climate alarms. Many of the words on Språktidningen’s and the Language Council’s annual list of new words have a clear connection to these crises.
The new word list contains 35 words that have been coined or become more common during the year. The words in the list say something both about the past year but also about linguistic trends. How many do you recognize?
New word 2022
Accelerationism – Extremist political strategy that, with the help of violence and terror, seeks to accelerate a supposedly predetermined societal collapse in order to establish an ideal society
Agrivoltaic – Which combines agriculture and solar power.
Autocratization – Process where democracy in a society is broken down to be replaced by an autocratic social system with a leader with unlimited power.
Decarbonisation – Decommissioning dependence on fossil fuels.
Barbiecore – Aesthetics inspired by Barbie dolls.
Chest – Take responsibility for, take on a difficult task.
Death doula – Professional adviser and support person at the end of life.
Edgelord – Person who deliberately seeks attention and creates conflicts through controversial statements, provocateur.
Energy poverty – Inadequate access to electricity.
Energy war – Wars where blocking of energy supplies is used as a pressure booster.
Epadunk – Music genre associated with A-tractors, colloquially called epatraktor.
False majority – Majority in a subordinate body that is in the minority in a superior decision-making body.
Frame football – Soccer where the players use walkers or wheelchairs to move around the field.
Have the day – Hit the top form at the right time, have flow.
Hunger stone – Engraved rock that usually lies deep below the water surface, but becomes visible during drought and low water levels.
Kamikaze drones – Unmanned aerial vehicle loaded with explosives.
Click chemistry – Method to construct more complicated molecules by “clicking together” molecular building blocks.
Climate ticket – Subsidized season ticket for public transport with the aim of reducing emissions from motor vehicles.
Climate compensation – Financial compensation for countries that are severely affected by climate change.
Food poverty – Inadequate access to food.
Donut model – Model for an economic system where the goal is to meet people’s needs within the limits of what the planet can handle.
Marriage of pleasure – Time-limited marriage for payment, during which the woman must give the man sexual pleasure.
Permacrisis – Series of crises with no end in sight, state of permanent crisis.
Putin price – Price that has become higher due to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war of invasion in Ukraine.
Returning addicts – Person who systematically orders goods from online stores without the intention of keeping them.
Selfie Museum – Room with decor that gives visitors the opportunity to take eye-catching self-portraits.
SMR – Small-scale modular reactor nuclear reactor that has less electrical power and can potentially be mass-produced.
Stealth inflation – Price increase that is greater than what is justified based on cost increases.
Sports laundry – Use of sport to improve or repair a damaged reputation.
ghost flight – Aircraft flying without passengers with the aim of maintaining airport departure and landing times.
Urbexer – Person who devotes himself to the exploration of abandoned buildings and places.
Election deniers – Person who, without concrete evidence, denies the legitimacy of a political election.
Vertiport – Vertical airport intended for, for example, drones and helicopters.
Virtual fence – Digitally programmed enclosure for animals.
Waiting care – Grief before the impending loss of a loved one.
