Collins Dictionary has dubbed brat as its 2024 word of the year. Fully and forever immortalizing Charli XCX’s lime green brat summer of club bops and igdaf attitude.
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With Charli’s smash hit sixth album becoming essentially inescapable since its arrival, and rightfully so, the dictionary, knowing what’s up, announced its designation of Collins' Word of the Year 2024, on Friday, November 1.
Noting brat “newly defined in 2024 as ‘characterized by a confident, independent, and hedonistic attitude.’”
“Inspired by the Charli XCX album, brat has become one of the most talked about words of 2024,” The dictionary’s explanation went on to note. Adding that, “more than a hugely successful album, brat is a cultural phenomenon that has resonated with people globally, and brat summer established itself as an aesthetic and a way of life.”
According to the singer’s once shared clarification of the word — brat is “that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes. Who feels herself but maybe also has a breakdown. But kind of like, parties through it, is very honest, very blunt. A little bit volatile. Like, does dumb things. But it’s brat. You’re brat. That’s brat.”
Per Charli some of the necessary items for a brat girl summer, include: “a pack of cigs, a Bic lighter, and a strappy white top with no bra.”
As the summer progressed so did the album’s signature lime green square background and blurry Arial font aesthetic. And as Collins’ pointed out, the vibe became so hot, it bore a TikTok dance trend, resulted in memes, influenced fashion, and even gained recognition from Vice President Kamala Harris who backed up the Charli’s turn of the phrase “Kamala is brat” to boost her presidential campaign.
According to Collins’ experts comb through their 20-billion-word database to make their annual list of new and notable words that represent the evolution of the English language. Other words on this year’s WOTY short-list included: Brainrot, Era (defined as “a period in one’s life or career that is of a distinctive character” in honor of Taylor Swift’s global tour), as well as looksmaxxing, rawdogging, anti-tourism, delulu, romantasy, supermajority and yapping.