Brat, the word redefined by singer Charli XCX and adopted by supporters of US presidential candidate Kamala Harris, was on Friday named the Collins Word of the Year 2024.
“Brat” was the name of the UK singer’s hit sixth album, and the word has now come to represent a “confident, independent, and hedonistic attitude”, said Collins, rather than simply a term for a badly-behaved child.
“Inspired by the Charli XCX album, ‘brat’ has become one of the most talked about words of 2024,” said the UK-based dictionary.
“More than a hugely successful album, ‘brat’ is a cultural phenomenon that has resonated with people globally, and ‘brat summer’ established itself as an aesthetic and a way of life,” it added.
The 32-year-old pop star, whose real name is Charlotte Emma Aitchison, described the typical brat girl as someone “who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes, who feels herself, but then also maybe has a breakdown, but kind of parties through it”.
She posted on X in July that “Kamala IS brat”, in reference to the US Vice President, prompting the presidential nominee to use her song “365” in one of her TikTok videos.
Her campaign account also re-branded with a lime green photo in the style of the Brat album cover.
The album hit number one in her native UK and number three in the US.
Collins’ lexicographers, who put together their dictionaries, look at social media and other sources to determine which words should be added to their annual list of new and notable words.
Another word that has made it onto this year’s list is era – which is inspired by Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, which visited the UK and Europe this year.
The Collins team have defined it as “a period of one’s life or career that is of a distinctive character”.
A lot of the words on this year’s list have been popularised by Generation Z, those born between 1995 and 2012 and even Generation Alpha – who are only as old as 10 or 11.
Once again social media apps like TikTok and Snapchat have a lot to answer for when it comes to the growth of new words and phrases, according to Collins.
Yapping, which means talking about length about things that don’t really matter that much and delulu, being unrealistic with your expectations, also make it onto this year’s list.
Despite it being the year of elections globally, only one political term makes it onto this list – supermajority.
It is defined as a “large majority in a legislative assembly that enables a government to pass laws without effective scrutiny” and became popular around the UK general election in July.
