The annual campaign “Word, Non-word and Idiomatic Expression of the Year”, organised by the Latvian Language Development Group of the Riga Latvian Society, has been announced. Everyone is invited to submit their own candidate for the word, non-word and idiomatic expression of the year, which will then be evaluated by linguists to select the most apt ones.

In the “Word of the Year” category, linguists are looking for the most vivid and apt words created according to Latvian language patterns that were heard for the first time last year, such as okupeklis (monument of occupation) and similar examples. This also includes words that have gained or regained popularity, or have been used with a new or special meaning characteristic of that year.

The “Word of the Year” stamps a specific year into history; for example, previous years' selections have included kvadrātkods (square code) as a replacement for QR code, sejauts (face cloth) intended to replace the terms mouth and nose covering or mask, zibmaksājums (instant payment), glābējsilīte (baby box), zibakcija (flash mob) and others.

The “Non-word of the Year”, meanwhile, is the most striking example of poorly coined or unnecessarily borrowed words that appeared or became noticeably widespread during the year, or known words that were widely used in inappropriate or unnecessarily distorted senses, for example, following the patterns of other languages.

It is never too late to replace non-words with Latvian equivalents, the organisers urge. Non-words from previous years have included influenceris (influencer), which was suggested to be replaced by the neologism ietekmelis, episki (epic), vaibs (vibe), sadarbspējīgs (co-capable), which is a literal translation of 'interoperable', ekselence (excellence) used when referring to eminence, and the like.