“The most searched word (apocalyptic) certainly does not define the year 2023, but many others researched do portray the year, in the areas of politics, nature, society, sport, religion and technology, among others”, according to a statement by Priberam and Lusa agency, who came together for the seventh consecutive year to select the most search words that illustrate the year that is ending.

The 24 words (two for each month) that defined the year – selected, in terms of relevance, from more than a hundred that stood out in research – are available on the website oanoempalavras.pt, each one illustrated with a photograph and news of the event the prompted the research.

Throughout 2023, searches were made for words such as pilgrim, due to the Pope’s visit to Portugal, resignation, because of political activity and the dismissal of the Prime Minister, mercenary and Palestinian, associated with the conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, or even disaster and earthquake, in relation to natural catastrophes, such as the earthquakes that shook Morocco and the Philippines or the fire in Hawaii.

The website is structured in chronological order, from January to December, and each word allows direct access to its meaning and about the event that motivated the research, in the Priberam Dictionary and the Lusa article.

“Reading and seeing the year in words is a way of reviewing what marked us in our collective year. There are keywords: for example, in February, the word abuse (in the Church), or in April, “exoneration” of the ministerial advisor, in October, Palestinian and in November, the word resignation. Next year, these words are foreseen to change”, said Luísa Meireles, information director of Lusa.

The executive director of Priberam, Carlos Amarla, commented: “The Year in Words (Ano em Palavras in Portuguese), once again gives us an image of the last 12 months (something that would be impossible in just one word), which becomes clearer through the remarkable events that occurred this year, for the millions of users of our dictionary, illustrated with images, by the photographers and journalists of the Lusa agency.

Monthly words

Emeritus and coup were the words that marked January, the month in which Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away, and in which a coup supporting Bolsonaro forced entry into the Brazilian Congress building.

The words that characterised February, the month in which the report of the independent commission on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church was presented, and in which NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, highlighted the defence of airspace, following the shooting of unidentified flying objects.

March was defned by the words commander, due to the death of businessman and commander Rui Nabeiro, from the Delta Cafés group, and Ismaelita, because of the knife attack at the Ismaelita Center in Lisbon, which caused two fatalities.

In April, João Galamba’s dismissed deputy, Frederico Pinheiro, accused the Ministério de Infraestruturas of wanting to omit information from the TAP inquiry commission, and the French took to the streets in a demonstration against the reform of the pension system that provides for an increase in age of reform, so the most searched words were exonerated and reform.

Cantiga and coronation were the words of May, regarding statements by the Mozambican writer who won the prize Camões 2021 prize, Paulina Chiziane, contesting the definition of “cantiga” in some Portuguese language dictionaries, and the coronation ceremony in the UK.

In June, the chosen words were ineligible and mercenary, because of the votes of the judges of the Brazilian Electoral Court that made former president Jair Bolsonaro ineligible for the next eight years, and the leader of the Wagner mercenary group, who denied the accusation of treason by the Russian president.

July, in which Portuguese swimmer Diogo Ribeiro won the silver medal in the 50 metre butterfly at the Swimming World Championships in Japan, and in which President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, was discharged from the hospital after a vagal episode and fainting, the words of the month were butterfly and vagal.

In August, the arrival of hundreds of pilgrims registered for World Youth Day in Lisbon, which was attended by Pope Francis, and the forest fires in Maui, which caused the deadliest disaster in Hawaii, dictated the choice of the words pilgrim and disaster.

The approval of measures to mitigate the impact of rising interest rates on housing credit and the earthquake that hit Morocco marked the words of September, mitigation and earthquake.

The words pipi, because of the statements made by the president of the PSD, Luís Montenegro, regarding the state budget for 2024, which he defined as “pipi, well presented and very cute”, and Palestinian, following the bombings of the Gaza Strip, marked October.

November was the month of resignation, with the resignation of Prime Minister, António Costa, following the investigation launched by the Public Ministry, and of Artificial Intelligence, with the launch of ChatGPT by OpenAI.

Finally, the month of December was defined by the words collapse, due to António Guterres, secretary of the United Nations, who stated that it was still possible to avoid the collapse of the earth, and by the word prudence, following the appeal of Mário Centeno, governor from the Bank of Portugal, so that there is prudence in salary increases.

In 2023, searches for words such as repeal, relating to the decrees signed by Bolsonaro, that Lula da Silva announced that he would revoke, the word outrageous, alluding to Biden’s reaction to the invasion of Congress in Brasilia, the word sanctions, because of the possibility from the European Union of sanctioning countries that help Russia, influencer and lithium, regarding an operation investing signs of corruption that caused the fall of the socialist government, and metadata, due to the decree by the President of the Republic.

With regard to catastrophes in 2023, searches for the words submersible and implosion stood out, following the disaster with the Titan Submarine, terrorism, because of terrorist attacks in Brussels and Paris, genocide, due to the attacks on Gaza, including hospitals and refugee camps, which caused thousands of deaths, mostly women and children, which led the UN to call for ceasefire due to risk of genocide, and the word rescuers, in relation to the operation that saved 41 workers who were trapped in a tunnel in India.