After the enraged reactions to the terms nominated for the word to represent the year, the Dikke van Dale dictionary has chosen the Dutch term “polarisatie” (polarisation) as the Netherlands’ word of the year for 2024.

Van Dale’s Dutch word of the year 2024

Every year since 2007, the Dikke van Dale dictionary has conducted a vote to crown the Dutch word of the year. A shortlist of terms is compiled based on nominations submitted by people living in the Netherlands, who then vote on the 10 words to select a winner.

This year saw a different turn of events though, as the voting period was closed early due to the enraged reactions of several organisations. “The election has been hijacked in recent days by various campaign groups calling for people to vote or not to vote for certain words,” wrote the Dutch dictionary in a statement. 

“The messages surrounding these words have degenerated into a very unpleasant social discussion and thus the pageant has missed its target. The reactions this year are even more vehement than in other years.” For this reason, van Dale decided to end the voting period and chose “polarisatie” as the word to represent the spirit of the year. Last year’s word was “graaiflatie” (greedflation).

Backlash over nominations for Dutch word of the year

One of the words that Van Dale received backlash for including was “pieperaanval” (pager attack) which refers to the coordinated Israeli attack on Hezbollah that saw many pagers explode. Another word that caused angry reactions from several organisations representing the LGBTQIA+ community was “transitiespijt” (transition regret).

The organisations claimed that the term stigmatises transgender people by alluding that many people regret having gender-affirming surgery, which is largely untrue. Furthermore, the dictionary received criticism for choosing words which many felt were not used often and relied on compound words instead of new terms. 

The other words that were nominated for the shortlist were the following:

• AI-washing - Deceptive marketing that promotes a product or service by overstating the role of AI
• Beknibbelflatie (cutback inflation) - Inflation fuelled by producers replacing expensive ingredients with cheaper alternatives to increase their profits
• Burn-outbureaucratie (burn-out bureaucracy) - When a municipality is overloaded with too many tasks to fulfil, negatively affecting employees and residents
• Comfortwater (comfort water) - The excessive use of tap water for luxury purposes other than drinking, cooking and cleaning, such as in a swimming pool or in lawn care 
• Gen Z-stagiair (Gen Z intern) - An intern from a younger generation than a company’s permanent employees who are expected to produce fresh ideas and use what is considered exotic language
• Koeltekloof (cooling gap) - Social inequality between wealthy people who are able to cool their homes during heat waves and those less wealthy who cannot
• Profnar (professional jester) - A person who is hired to find and solve problems in a company  
• Sjoemelscooter (cheat scooter) - A reference to the infamous fat bike