the year, 'change', and has done so in December every year since. The selection is based on search trends on the site throughout the year and the news events that drive them. The following is the list of annual words since beginning with the first in 2010: 2010: Change 2011: Tergiversate 2012: Bluster 2013: Privacy 2014: Exposure 2015: Identity 2016: Xenophobia 2017: Complicit 2018: Misinformation 2019: Existential 2020: Pandemic 2021: Allyship 2022: Woman Similar word lists A Word a Year Since 2004, Susie Dent, an English lexicographer has published a column, "A Word a Year", in which she chooses a single word from each of the last 101 years to represent preoccupations of the time. Susie Dent notes that the list is subjective. Each year, she gives a completely different set of words. Since Susie Dent works for the Oxford University Press, her words of choice are often incorrectly referred to as "Oxford Dictionary's Word of the Year". Other countries In Germany, a Wort des Jahres has been selected since 1972 (for year 1971) by the Society of the German Language. In addition, an Unwort des Jahres (Un-word of the year or No-no Word of the Year) has been nominated since 1991, for a word or phrase in public speech deemed insulting or socially inappropriate (such as "Überfremdung"). Similar selections are made each year since 1999 in Austria, 2002 in Liechtenstein, and 2003 in Switzerland. Since 2008, language publisher Langenscheidt supports a search for the German youth word of the year, which aims to find new words entering the language through the vernacular of young people. In Denmark, the Word of the year has been selected since 2008 by Danmarks Radio and Dansk Sprognævn. In Japan, the Kanji of the year (kotoshi no kanji) has been selected since 1995. Kanji are adopted Chinese characters in Japanese language. Japan also runs an annual word of the year contest called " U-Can New and Trendy Word Grand Prix" (U-Can shingo, ryūkōgo taishō) sponsored by Jiyu Kokuminsha. Both the kanji and word/phrases of the year are often reflective of Japanese current events and attitudes. For example, in 2011 following the Fukushima power plant disaster, the frustratingly enigmatic phrase used by Japanese officials before the explosion regarding the possibility of meltdown – "the possibility of recriticality is not zero" (Sairinkai no kanōsei zero de wa nai) – became the top phrase of the year.