This year saw 10 new Dutch words battle it out to be named the Netherlands’ word of the year, but of course, there could be only one winner. Receiving around a quarter of the vote, klimaatklever (“climate sticker”) has been crowned the 2022 word of the year in the Netherlands! 

The Netherlands crowns klimaatklever 2022 word of the year

Every year since 2007, the Dikke van Dale dictionary sets out to find the Netherlands’ word of the year. In order to be nominated for the title, words are submitted by members of the public - but the words must have originated in 2022. 

The past two years have seen many of the nominated words relate to the coronavirus pandemic, with prikspijt winning the award in 2021, and anderhalvemetersamenleving taking home the title in 2020. However, this year - perhaps unsurprisingly - none of the 10 nominees were so-called "corona words". 

Voting closed on December 19, with almost 15.000 people turning to the Dikke van Dale website to cast their votes this year. On Tuesday morning, the editor-in-chief of Dikke van Dale, Ton den Boon, announced klimaatklever as the 2022 word of the year, after it won 25,4 percent of the vote.

The word - which directly translates to “climate sticker” - refers to the many climate protesters who this year clung to or stuck themselves to a symbolic or valuable object, such as Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers, in order to draw attention to climate issues. 

Nominees for the Netherlands 2022 word of the year

Klimaatklever faced some interesting and diverse competition this year - these are all the Dutch words that were nominated for word of the year in 2022.

• Zevenvinker (“seven ticker”): Someone who can tick off seven attributes, or privileges, on a hypothetical list (i.e. male, white, heterosexual, completed secondary education, attended university, wealthy, highly-educated parents, at least one native Dutch parent).
• Energietoerisme (“energy tourism”): The act of travelling somewhere warm during the winter in order to avoid the high cost of energy.
• Boektokken (“booktok-ing”): The act of sharing videos about books on the social media platform TikTok.
• Bofbelasting (“luck tax”): Extra tax charged on unexpectedly large corporate profits, especially if the profits weren’t a result of normal business operations but instead geopolitical or social developments. 
• Emojibaby: A baby or child whose face is covered by an emoji in social media posts in order to protect the child’s privacy.
• Needlespiking: The act of covertly injecting someone via a hypodermic needle, with the intention of drugging them. 
• Prijzenpijn (“price pain”): Frustration someone feels as a result of the rising prices and cost of living, largely due to the high rate of inflation.
• Spijtgezin (“regret family”): A family that regrets having taken in (Ukrainian) refugees.
• Stopbonus: A one-off bonus offered by the Dutch government to businesses in highly-polluting industries to permanently cease operations, generally used in reference to the farming industry.

Zevenvinker came in second place with 22 percent of the vote, with energietoerisme rounding out the top three after receiving 12 percent of the vote.