'KI' (AI) Confirmed as Luxembourgish Word of Year for 2023

Luxembourg's Ministry of Culture and the ZLS centre for the Luxembourgish language have reported that "KI" (AI) is the Luxembourgish word of the year for 2023.

"Kënschtlech Intelligenz" (artificial intelligence) - or "KI" - emerged as the top Luxembourgish word for 2023. "Fridden" (peace) came in second place, ahead of "ChatGPT", "den neie Luc" ("the new Luc", referring to a slogan associated with now Prime Minister Luc Frieden during the 2023 legislative elections) and "Superwaljoer" (super election year - Luxembourg held both its municipal and national elections this year), in joint third place.

For the fourth time since 2020, on the initiative of the ZLS, the search was on for the Luxembourgish word of the year. 

From the end of November to 18 December 2023, everyone could submit their proposal for the word of the year for 2023 to the ZLS - either on paper at the Walfer Bicherdeeg or via an online form. The centre received about 370 proposals with some 170 different words.

Among them were a few suggestions that were only mentioned once or twice. Most of them were in direct relation with a concrete event, for example the elections in Luxembourg or the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Other examples related to the construction crisis, climate change and rising interest rates. In addition, there were various terms coming from youth language and the field of sports or entertainment, among others.

The ZLS team created a shortlist with 20 words and presented it to the jury. The main criterion for the choice was the number of mentions, but the relevance of the proposed term to current affairs, how well it is known and its prevalence and comprehensibility were also considered. The jury included the Commissioner for the Luxembourgish language, Pierre Reding, the President of the CPLL council for the Luxembourgish language, Myriam Welschbillig, Radio 100,7 editor Dany Weyler, RTL.lu editorial manager Pierre Weimerskirch and linguist Dr Sara Martin from the ZLS.

In a first round of voting, the list was reduced from 20 to ten terms and in a second step from ten to five. "KI" / "Kënschtlech Intelligenz" emerged as the clear winner, thus succeeding "Ukrainkrich" (Ukraine war; 2022 Luxembourgish word of the year), "boosteren" (to get a booster, in relation to COVID-19 vaccinations; 2021 word of the year) and "Corona" (2020 word of the year).

The word "Logementskris" (housing crisis) just missed the top 5.

In Germany, the Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache (GfdS) selected "Krisenmodus" (crisis mode) as the word of the year for 2023. "Kanzlermenü" (Chancellor's menu) secured the top spot in Austria. In Switzerland, there are four words of the year, for each of the four official languages: "Monsterbank" (German; alluding to the UBS and Crédit Suisse merger), "décombres" (French; ahead of "intelligence artificielle" in second place), GPT (Italian) and "Solarexpress" (Romansh; programme for the increased promotion of solar energy).

The Oxford Word of the Year for 2023 is "rizz" (shortened form of "charisma"). For the Collins Dictionary, the word of the year is the English counterpart to "KI", namely the abbreviation for artificial intelligence, "AI". Merriam-Webster opted for the adjective "authentic".

The ZLS noted that there is no "official" word of the year in France and the Belgian word of the year for 2023 will soon be revealed.

Among all the people who sent in a proposal for the Luxembourgish word of the year for 2023, the ZLS gave away three gifts. The draw has been made and the winners contacted.