Dictionary.com‘s word of the year is demure, a nod to the “very mindful, very demure” social media trend started by TikTokker Jools Lebron.
Demure beat out brainrot, brat (inspired by the Charli XCX album of the same name), extreme weather, midwest nice, and weird. Dictionary.com defines demure as “characterized by shyness or modesty; reserved,” but its announcement acknowledged that the use popularized by Jools changes the word’s meaning.
‘Pookie’ is more than a pet name. TikTok’s new favorite word is rooted in a rich cultural history.
Online, it’s come to mean anything from self-aware, sophisticated, and restrained to good and praiseworthy. But as is the case with any viral word, it’s also come to mean nothing.
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Jools first posted how to be mindful and demure in early August. “You see how I do my makeup for work? Very demure. Very mindful,” she said in the now-viral video. “I don’t come to work with a green-cut crease. I don’t look like a clown when I go to work. I don’t do too much. I’m very mindful while I’m at work.”
The word quickly caught on and was inescapable online. Dictionary.com saw 200 times more searches for the word than it did on dates preceding August.
