--- 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=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1973 og:image:height: 1110 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=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Merriam Webster Names 'They' as Its Word of the Year for 2019 > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. 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"}}]}] ```