"Yandex" named the most popular neologisms of 2024

Yandex analysts have found out which new words have aroused the greatest interest among Russians this year and over the past 10 years as a whole. For this purpose, they studied impersonal user queries to "Search" with the words "what is", "what is this" and "what means" and selected the words in which interest grew at least five times compared to the previous year. This year, first place went to the word "dox." It was followed by "skoof," "pikmi" and "normies," and rounding out the top five was "wonenism."

Three of the top five most popular neologisms of 2024 refer to men. "Scoofs" refer to men over 30 who don't look after themselves, avoid sports and prefer unhealthy food. "Pikmi" are girls who try their best to earn the approval of the opposite sex, and "normis" is the most ordinary, unremarkable person.

The other two words are related to new phenomena in life. "Dox" is the search for confidential information on the Internet, which is then used for blackmail and other disreputable purposes. The word can be found in a context such as "wait for the dox" or "you've been ordered to dox". And "wonenism" is a trend for minimalism, healthy living and self-sufficiency, associated with the name of South Korean singer, TV presenter and model Jang Wonen.

"Yandex" compiled the tops of new words for each year from 2015 to 2024. So, in the distant 2015, the words "kek", "krafty", "nichosi", "panchline" and "drip" were most often questioned by users. The top 5 neologisms of 2019 included "vislovo", "foodporn", "fonk", "glamping" and "simp", while last year the words "split", "chinazes", "sneaky", "quadrobike" and "matchmaking" became popular.

Interest in new words varied in different ways. For example, "patimaker" and "covid" almost disappeared from search queries after reaching peak popularity. This is what happens when a word loses relevance or, on the contrary, becomes commonplace and no longer raises questions. People continued to search for the meanings of some words several years after their appearance. An example of this kind is the hip-hop subgenre "fonk". Some neologisms eventually began to attract even more attention than before. For example, "rils," which was included in the top 5 new words of 2021, set a new record three years later, although it did not make the list of leaders.

Earlier, on December 2, the Oxford English Dictionary named brain rot, literally translated as "brain rot," as the word of 2024. The use of the expression in the English language was first recorded back in 1854. It is noted that in 2024 it was used 230% more often. At the same time, it began to describe concerns about low-quality content in social networks and its negative impact on individuals and society.