Oxford¹ Dictionaries has declared "climate emergency" the word of the year for 2019, following a hundred-fold increase in usage that it says demonstrated a "greater immediacy" in the way we talk about the climate.

 

近日，《牛津词典》公布了2019年度词汇——“气候紧急状态”，这一词汇的使用率在2019年增加了100倍。据称，当人们谈论气候问题时，使用这个词会"更加突出危机感"。

 

Defined as "a situation in which urgent action is required to reduce or halt climate change and avoid potentially irreversible environmental damage resulting from it", Oxford said the words soared from "relative obscurity" to "one of the most prominent – and prominently debated – terms of 2019."

 

According to the dictionary’s data, usage of "climate emergency" soared 10,796%.

 

Oxford said the choice was reflective, not just of the rise in climate awareness², but the focus specifically on the language we use to discuss it. The rise of "climate emergency" reflected a conscious push towards language of immediacy and urgency, the dictionary said.

 

In 2019, "climate" became the most common word associated with "emergency", three times more than "health emergency" in second.

 

"Climate emergency" beat the words "climate crisis", "climate action", "climate denial", "extinction³", "flight shame", "global heating" and "plant-based", which were on the shortlist.

 

The dictionary's word of the year is chosen to "reflect the ethos, mood, or preoccupations of the passing year" and should have "lasting⁴ potential as a term of cultural significance".

 

Previous winners of word of the year include "toxic⁵" in 2018 and "youthquake" in 2017.

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