Kindness is Oxford Children’s Word of the Year

Reasons to be cheerful part one: kindness is Oxford Children’s Word of the Year for 2024 according to Oxford University Press (OUP).

Kindness was chosen by more than six in ten children (61%) among a shortlist of three words: kindness, artificial intelligence, and conflict. A quarter of children selected artificial intelligence (25%) and 7% selected conflict. There was also the option to select no preference from the shortlist.

The research, which surveyed opinions from over 6,000 children aged 6-14 years across the UK, revealed mental health to be a reason for some children selecting kindness, ‘It’s always important to be kind as a lot of people struggle with their mental health’ said one young person.  According to the survey, teachers also cite a growing awareness among young people of the wider impact of kindness on mental wellbeing.

Numerous references to global violence and current conflicts further emphasised how attuned children are to current affairs; with words such as ‘need’ and ‘should’ frequently used in their responses.

A study of the Oxford Children’s Corpus, the world’s largest database of writing by and for children in the English language containing over half a billion words, reveals AI is a keen topic of interest for children who express varying viewpoints on the subject. Analysis, which includes looking at the stories submitted for the BBC 500 WORDS 2024 story competition, shows the phrase ‘take over the world’ is commonly used in relation to AI, whilst there are also themes around AI machines being empathetic to humans.

The 25% of children choosing artificial intelligence expressed cautious optimism about the technology. Whilst children expressed concerns around fake online content and superintelligence, of those who selected artificial intelligence, 53 per cent gave positive responses, such as ‘excited’ and ‘optimistic’, as one respondent says, ‘Because I think that the world is a better place with ai as long as they do not take over our lives.’

Top slang word is slay

Children were also asked to choose their favourite slang word, with more than one in four (28 per cent) opting for slay, citing it as a term of approval and expression of support. Whilst slay has appeared on the colloquial shortlist for the past two years, 2024 saw a rise specifically in younger children voting for the word, with a 16% point increase from 2023 among six-eight-year-olds. The terms sigma and skibidi were voted as second and third choices respectively (16 per cent and 15 per cent) highlighting the influential role social media plays on children’s language.

Andrea Quincey, Director Early Years and Primary Publishing, Oxford University Press, says, ‘It is so encouraging that kindness has been voted—by a considerable majority—as the Oxford Children’s Word of the Year for 2024. We know from previous years that young people are very conscious of the big issues that can divide us as a society and attuned to the important role which language can play in bringing people together. This choice suggests something more personal: an awareness of mental health issues and of the hidden challenges others may be facing. It tells us that empathy, and tolerance and the language we use matter, and that kindness is not only a solution to so many problems but is something everyone and anyone can do to make a difference.’

For more than a decade, experts and academic researchers at OUP have been tracking Children’s Word of the Year, analysing the evolution of children’s language and how it is used to reflect their emotions and experiences. In response to the latest findings, the Children’s Language department at OUP have published the Oxford Children’s Word of the Year 2024 report, which you can read in full now.

The Children’s Word of the Year has reflected the influence and impact of media news stories and important topics of conversation in the grown-up world on young minds and imaginations.

Previous Words of the Year areL

2023     Climate Change

2022     Queen

2021     Anxiety

2020     Coronavirus

2019     Brexit

2018     Plastic

2017     Trump

2016     Refugee

2015     #hashtag

2014     Minion