What it doesn't mean
Collins added it to CollinsDictionary.com in 2022, but said it had been noted in academic contexts since the 1970s. The 2022 pick was about how well it described that particular year.
Close, but different. Polycrisis stresses many crises overlapping at once. Permacrisis stresses one state of crisis lasting so long that it never seems to end.
What it really means
Permacrisis describes a particular kind of tiredness: getting through one emergency only to find the next one has started.
Collins named it Word of the Year for 2022 on 1 November. It defined it as "an extended period of instability and insecurity". Collins's announcement listed what had happened so far in the 2020s: a pandemic and its aftermath, a brutal new war in Europe, and in the UK an economic crisis that prompted the Bank of England to warn of a risk to financial stability. In the UK there had also been three prime ministers, "so far", as Collins put it. Alex Beecroft, head of Collins Learning, said the word "sums up just how truly awful 2022 has been for so many people".
Collins presented the rest of its shortlist as fallout from the same crisis. Partygate was one of the events that set off the political turbulence. The invasion of Ukraine brought an energy shock, warm banks (heated places for people who couldn't afford to heat their homes), and the spelling Kyiv. In the labour market, quiet quitting described people doing their basic duties and no more. Beecroft did find some hope in the list, in the determination of Ukraine's people and in Carolean, for the new reign in the UK.
The word wasn't new. Collins said it had first been noted in academic writing in the 1970s, and Wiktionary quotes it from a 1994 book chapter describing Europe's "permacrisis" of slow growth and unemployment. What changed in 2022 was that it described ordinary life. Collins builds its list by monitoring its multi-billion-word corpus and a range of media, including social media, and this was the word that fitted the year.
The perma- prefix does most of the work, borrowed from words like permafrost. It turns a crisis, something temporary by definition, into a permanent state.
Where it comes from
short for permanent (as in perma-tan, permafrost)
a time of intense difficulty or danger
A blend of perma- and crisis. Collins said it was first noted in academic contexts in the 1970s. Wiktionary's earliest quotation is from a 1994 book on political economy.
- 1970s
Permacrisis is first noted in academic writing, according to Collins.
- 1994
Wiktionary quotes it in a book chapter describing Europe's 'permacrisis' of slow growth and unemployment.
- 2022
The aftermath of the pandemic, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, an energy shock, rising prices and three UK prime ministers in one year.
- 1 November 2022
Collins names permacrisis its Word of the Year 2022.
In real life
- First the pandemic, then the energy bills, then the mortgage rates. 'It's not a crisis any more,' he sighed, 'it's a permacrisis.'
- The editor banned the word 'unprecedented' from headlines, on the grounds that in a permacrisis everything is.
- Economists warned that businesses were planning for permacrisis, with less long-term investment and more short-term survival.
Questions
Q01What does permacrisis mean?
Collins defines it as 'an extended period of instability and insecurity'. It describes the feeling of going from one emergency straight into the next, so that crisis becomes the normal state of things.
Q02Why was permacrisis Collins's Word of the Year 2022?
Collins said it summed up how awful 2022 had been for many people. The year brought the aftermath of the pandemic, war in Ukraine, an energy squeeze, a cost-of-living crisis and political instability. In the UK there were three prime ministers in a single year.
Q03Is permacrisis a new word?
No. Collins said it was first noted in academic contexts in the 1970s, and Wiktionary quotes it from 1994. It became common in 2022.
Q04What else was on Collins's 2022 list?
The shortlist included quiet quitting, Partygate, Kyiv, warm bank, lawfare, vibe shift, sportswashing, splooting and Carolean.
Sources
- A year of 'permacrisis'. Collins Dictionary Language Blog (1 November 2022).
- Permacrisis declared Collins Dictionary word of the year. BBC News (1 November 2022).
- permacrisis: Wiktionary (with dated quotations).
- Polycrisis (with a section on permacrisis): Wikipedia.