Queen is Oxford Children’s Word of the Year for 2022

Children express overwhelming sadness at loss of Queen but remain hopeful about year ahead

Tuesday, 17^thJanuary 2023 – Queen is the Children's Word of the Year for 2022 according to research by Oxford University Press (OUP). Almost half of children surveyed chose Queen (46 per cent) as their word of the year, followed by over a third selecting happy (36 per cent) and more than one in ten choosing chaos (14 per cent).

When asked why they chose Queen, many children cited sadness and loss as well as feelings of pride in relation to the late monarch. Girls were more likely than boys to relate to the late Queen, with 52 per cent of girls choosing Queen as their number one word as opposed to 39 per cent of boys. Analysis of the Oxford Children’s Corpus, the largest children’s English language database in the world containing over half a billion words, revealed Queen Elizabeth was regularly in the top-ten list of famous people whom children wrote about over the years.

Despite sadness at the monarch’s death, almost half of children (48 per cent) felt hopeful and over a quarter (29 per cent) felt excited about the year ahead, although more than one in ten (14 per cent) stated they felt worried. Other findings revealed cool to be the top slang word chosen by 40 per cent of children, ahead of sick/sic (28 per cent) and slay (15 per cent).

Helen Freeman, Director of Oxford Children’s, said: “It comes as no surprise that Queen is Children’s Word of the Year for 2022. This not only reflects Her Majesty’s 70 years of incredible service, but over the past decade our research consistently reveals how attuned children are to the news and the impact current affairs have on their language. It’s vital we continue to invest in language development and ensure children have access to a wide range of vocabulary in order to feel equipped to process and discuss the news.”

Miranda McKearney OBE, founder of EmpathyLab, said: “The choice of Queen highlights how affected children were by the emotions and sense of community and connection around the Jubilee and the Queen’s death. We always encourage teachers and parents not to shy away from discussing the news and the empathy issues of the day. Schools report that making brave book choices, and focusing on honest, empathetic talk really opens-up a new, deeper relationship, between teacher and pupil, and among children themselves.”

Over 4,000 children aged 6-14 across the country were asked for their suggested word of 2022 and based on the most common responses and themes in their answers, three words – Queen, happy and chaos – were shortlisted. The three words were then put to vote by a further 1,000 children to decide their overall word of 2022.

For over a decade, experts and academic researchers in the Children’s Language department have analysed the evolution of children’s language and how it is used to reflect their emotions and experiences. In response to the latest findings, the Children’s Language department at OUP have published the Oxford Children’s Word of the Year 2022 report which can be read here.

For further information, please contact:

Caroline McCourt, Senior PR and Communications Manager, Oxford University Press

Caroline.Mccourt@oup.com

Notes to Editors

Methodology

4,000 children aged 6-14 across the UK, both in schools (2,500 children via the Educational Research Forum in October 2022) and via parents (1,500 children via Insights Family in November 2022) to get their suggestion for their word of 2022. Based on the most common responses and themes in their answers, three words – Queen, happy and chaos – were shortlisted. The three words were then put to vote by a further 1,000 children (via Opinium in December 2022) to decide their overall word of the year.

About the research

For over a decade OUP children’s lexicographers, publishers and editors have teamed up with academic researchers and experts in children’s language acquisition at the University of Oxford, and other research groups, to track changes in children’s vocabulary and self-expression. The database of language developed by OUP to enable this research is the Oxford Children’s Corpus; Oxford’s unique electronic database of writing for and by children and the largest children’s English language corpus in the world. Oxford Children’s Corpus enables OUP’s in-depth, authoritative linguistic analysis of children’s reading and writing.

In previous years, OUP has analysed children’s writing submitted via the BBC 500 Words creative writing competition with Chris Evans. To acknowledge the landmark year of 2022, and in similar fashion to the adult Word of the Year, we wanted to give more children the opportunity to be involved in the process of selecting the word which best reflected 2022. We gave children the opportunity to freely suggest any word which best depicted the year, and from reviewing the most-common themes in the 4,000 responses, narrowed it down to a shortlist of three words. These three words – Queen, happy and chaos – were then voted on by 1,000 children to establish the Children’s Word of the Year.

Previous Oxford Children’s Word of the Year

The Children’s Word of the Year has reflected the influence and impact of media news stories and important topics of conversation in the grown-up world on young minds and imaginations:

2021 anxiety

2020 coronavirus

2019 Brexit

2018 plastic

2017 trump

2016 refugee

2015 #hashtag

2014 minion