In early August 2024, American TikToker Jools Lebron gained internet fame for coining the phrase, “Very mindful, very demure”. Fast forward a few months, and “demure” is now crowned 2024’s word of the year.
Dictionary.com, the world’s leading online dictionary, recently published its annual “Word of The Year” choice. This year, the site named “demure” 2024’s word of the year due to its recent popularity and increased usage on social media. According to Dictionary.com, the word experienced a meteoric rise in usage in 2024 – a nearly 1200% increase in usage in digital web media alone between January and August 2024.
The site also attributed the rise to Jools’ video, which now has over 50 million views. The phrase she coined has also been replicated by many online users, from individuals to notable brands. Dictionary.com also explained how the video changed the word’s meaning, from typically used to describe someone reserved to now being used to describe a sophisticated appearance or behaviour.
“Demure” was chosen amongst several other short-listed nominees, including “brainrot” and “brat”. All the nominees are said to capture pivotal moments in language and culture, reflecting social trends and global events. In the case of “brainrot” and “brat”, these words have gotten significantly popular on social media, with the latter being especially popular amongst Gen Z because of English singer Charli XCX.
As 2024’s word of the year, “demure” joins the ranks of past winners, including “hallucinate”, “woman”, “allyship” and “pandemic”. Jools has also trademarked her now-famous phrase, which has appeared on various merchandise including t-shirts and phone accessories. What are your thoughts on “demure” being the word of the year?
If you haven’t, check out Jools Lebron’s now-viral video:
@joolieannie
Sources: Dictionary.com, TikTok
