SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Merriam-Webster will announce its 2026 Word of the Year on Wednesday, selecting a term driven by the year's surge in artificial intelligence use and search traffic on its online dictionary.

The Massachusetts-based company bases its selection on lookup data from its website, which draws tens of millions of users monthly. In recent years, editors have highlighted terms tied to technology and politics, with 'authentic' and 'polarization' among past winners. AI-related vocabulary has repeatedly topped trending lists through 2026.

Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster's editor at large, has explained that spikes in searches often follow major news events and cultural debates. The publisher typically pairs its main selection with a shortlist of runners-up that capture the wider mood of the year.

Oxford University Press, Cambridge Dictionary and Collins each release their own words of the year in the autumn, turning the season into an annual barometer of how language absorbs technology, politics and internet culture.

Lexicographers argue the exercise documents how quickly new coinages—from AI jargon to slang born on social platforms—migrate from niche corners into mainstream English within a single year.