Queen, chaos and cool among top children's words in 2022

Almost half of children have chosen 'Queen' as their word of the year for 2022, with the late monarch beating other popular terms like 'happy' and 'chaos'.

In a survey, conducted by the Oxford University Press (OUP), it was revealed that youngsters shared their sadness and pride when asked about their decision.

The Queen died aged 96 at her home in Balmoral in September – with her death triggering a national mourning period that saw schools shut on the day of her funeral.

Researchers also found that girls were more likely than boys to choose her as their top word, with 52% compared to 39% respectively.

Meanwhile, in second place was the word 'happy' – selected by 36% of children – with 14% voting for 'chaos', bringing it in at third place.

The results were determined through analysis of the Oxford Children’s Corpus, which contains half a billion words – making it the most extensive children's English language database in the world.

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It discovered that the most popular slang word of was 'cool', chosen by 40% of children.

Researchers also asked youngsters how they felt about 2023, with 48% stating that they felt 'hopeful' and 28% 'excited', while 14% felt 'worried'.

To create their final list, the OUP asked 4,000 children between the ages of six to 14 years old to put forward a word.

The top three – 'Queen', 'happy' and 'chaos' – were shortlisted and then put to 1,000 children to vote on.

Read more: 'Woman' named word of the year 2022 by Dictionary.com

Over the years, the most popular children's words have often reflected what is going on in wider society.

In 2021, the children's word of the year was 'anxiety' – with 'coronavirus', 'plastic' and '#hashtag' topping the rankings in previous years.