Charli XCX’s Brat crowned Collins Dictionary word of the year

Brat is a word you’ve probably seen just about everywhere over the last couple of months and now it’s officially Collins Dictionary word of the year.

Defined as someone with a “confident, independent and hedonistic attitude” it has been inspired by Charli XCX.

What started as the name of her number one album has arguably grown into a cultural movement for some, with people adopting the brat way of life.

Even the team for US presidential candidate Kamala Harris decided to give her social media a brat rebrand, to attract younger voters at the start of her campaign this summer.

Collins’ lexicographers, who put together their dictionaries, look at social media and other sources to determine which words should be added to their annual list of new and notable words.

Brat is the name of Charli’s sixth studio album, which has built momentum since its release in June this year, through not only its original tracks, but remixes too.

The song with most commercial success has been Guess, which went to number one in August after a remix with Billie Eilish was released.

Brat is, in the words of the singer, a girl who “has a breakdown, but kind of like parties through it”, who is honest, blunt, “a little bit volatile”.

She told the BBC’s Sidetracked podcast that someone brat might have “a pack of cigs, a Bic lighter and a strappy white top with no bra”.

Creating an aesthetic has been something popularised on TikTok, with Charli’s brat girl summer seen as a rejection of other trends such as the “clean girl” who looks feminine and well kept.

Brat is also about being hedonistic and rebellious, something Charli says was inspired by her early days of performing at illegal raves, which is again in stark contrast to other popular aesthetics that focus on staying at home and living a wholesome life.

Another word that has made it onto this year’s list is era – which is inspired by Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, which visited the UK and Europe this year.

The Collins team have defined it as “a period of one’s life or career that is of a distinctive character”.

A lot of the words on this year’s list have been popularised by Generation Z, those born between 1995 and 2012 and even Generation Alpha – who are only as old as 10 or 11.

Once again social media apps like TikTok and Snapchat have a lot to answer for when it comes to the growth of new words and phrases, according to Collins.

Yapping, which means talking about length about things that don’t really matter that much and delulu, being unrealistic with your expectations, also make it onto this year’s list.

Despite it being the year of elections globally, only one political term makes it onto this list – supermajority.

It is defined as a “large majority in a legislative assembly that enables a government to pass laws without effective scrutiny” and became popular around the UK general election in July.