--- title: Merriam Webster's Word of the Year 2019: "They" description: The dictionary chose "they" as its word of the year and also said searches for "quid pro quo" had spiked 644% canonical: https://time.com/5746516/merriam-webster-word-of-the-year-2019/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-12-10T14:47:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:01:06.927Z og:title: Merriam Webster Names 'They' As Its Word of the Year og:description: Here's what to know og:url: https://time.com/5746516/merriam-webster-word-of-the-year-2019/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf5b35f097318c33b/698a073c929fad7b8dbf560e/Dictionary.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Finger pointing to word in dictionary og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Merriam Webster Names 'They' As Its Word of the Year twitter:description: Here's what to know twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf5b35f097318c33b/698a073c929fad7b8dbf560e/Dictionary.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Merriam Webster Names 'They' as Its Word of the Year for 2019 by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Dec 10, 2019 2:47 PM UTC  Getty Images/Tetra images RF by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Dec 10, 2019 2:47 PM UTC Merriam-Webster [announced](https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/word-of-the-year/they) Tuesday that it has chosen “they” as the 2019 word of the year. The singular “they” is a pronoun used to refer to a person whose gender identity is nonbinary, a word that itself was added to the Merriam-Webster.com dictionary in September of this year. The gender neutral pronoun is used in place of “he or she”. And in September of this year, Grammy-award winning singer-songwriter [Sam Smith announced](https://time.com/5677668/sam-smith-they-them-pronouns/) their decision to use gender neutral pronouns. Smith is far from alone. Around the same time, [Merriam-Webster added](https://time.com/5679132/merriam-webster-gender-neutral-dictionary/) gender-neutral pronouns “[they](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/they)” and “[themself](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/themself)” to the dictionary. While “they” may be increasingly common in modern language as English speakers strive for more inclusive words, its use as a singular pronoun is not new. As Merriam-Webster [writes](https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/word-of-the-year/they), “English famously lacks a gender-neutral singular pronoun to correspond neatly with singular pronouns like everyone or someone, and as a consequence they has been used for this purpose for over 600 years.” Despite the word’s long history, searches for “they” increased by 313% in 2019 compared to the previous year, according to Merriam-Webster. While the dictionary didn’t officially select a runner-up for word of the year, it did note that searches for the phrase “[quid pro quo](https://time.com/5719342/trump-diplomats-gordon-sondland-quid-pro-quo/)” spiked 644% from last year. The Latin phrase, literally translated as “something for something”, is defined by the dictionary as “something given or received for something else” and as “a deal arranging a quid pro quo.” The phrase has come up repeatedly in [the impeachment hearing](https://time.com/5746997/articles-of-impeachment-donald-trump/) of Donald Trump. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5746516/merriam-webster-word-of-the-year-2019/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5746516/merriam-webster-word-of-the-year-2019/"},"headline":"Merriam Webster Names 'They' as Its Word of the Year for 2019","datePublished":"2019-12-10T14:47:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:01:06.927Z","description":"The dictionary also said searches for \"quid pro quo\" had spiked 644%","url":"https://time.com/5746516/merriam-webster-word-of-the-year-2019/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","Words","Dictionary"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf5b35f097318c33b/698a073c929fad7b8dbf560e/Dictionary.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf5b35f097318c33b/698a073c929fad7b8dbf560e/Dictionary.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Finger pointing to word in dictionary","caption":"Finger pointing to word in dictionary","creditText":"Getty Images/Tetra images RF","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5746516/merriam-webster-word-of-the-year-2019/","name":"Merriam Webster Names 'They' as Its Word of the Year for 2019"}}]}] ```