We identified 2018’s rising words by ranking Search interest growth for definitions of words (e.g., searches for “blockchain definition,” “define blockchain”).
In 2018, these 10 words led the pack: incel, uwu, mukbang, ibf, zaddy, blockchain, rng, jit, and gekyume.
2018’s top trending words is based on emerging words. With Google Trends data, we examined words with lower Search interest in 2017 that thereafter grew consistently, month-to-month, throughout the course of 2018.
This approach identified new words, (e.g., “juuling”) rather than established words (e.g. “selfie”).
“Woke” has gone on to become one of the most popular definitions on Google, with its Search interest peaking in early-2018.
None of 2018’s top rising definitions has achieved the pervasive popularity of “woke.” But comparing helps with context: “mukbang,” for example, is about half as popular as “woke” was at its peak early this year. “Incel” and “uwu” have also surpassed “non-binary, ”one of 2017’s top words.
Now let’s examine the history of 50+ words from 2015 to present day.