RTL Today - Language: Here are the top five Luxembourgish words of 2021

Same as last year, the coronavirus has dominated the vote for word of the year.

The top five contenders clearly show how much the Luxembourgish language has once again been influenced by both former and new terms related to the pandemic.

Here are the top five Luxembourgish words of 2021, according to the ranking compiled by the Centre for Luxembourgish, RTL, and Radio 100,7:

1. boosteren
2. CovidCheck
3. sheesh
4. Solidaritéit
5. Schwurbler/Schwurblerin

A total of 175 words were up for vote this year.

The top five explained

The winner is pretty self-explanatory. While the national vaccination campaign was launched at the beginning of 2021, the booster shot, or more specifically the act of "boostering", is what seems to dominate the end of the year. It further exemplifies the high frequency of loanwords that have made it into Luxembourgish recorded since the beginning of the pandemic.

Two words share the silver medal: CovidCheck and sheesh. While the former is again self-explanatory, latter is an expression that is rather hard to define. Used to show surprise or excitement, sheesh is often used as a response in a conversation.

"Solidarity" came in fourth place, which again relates back to the pandemic and the support between people suffering from its implications, but also for the victims of the July floods.

The words "Schwurbler" and "Schwurblerin" finish off the top five ranking. The German loanwords are used to denominate those prone to lie, invent things, or talk about unfamiliar matters of importance without checking their validity. Once more, a clear connection that can be made to the pandemic and its conspiracy theorists.

Further down the line we find the word "Copytani", a reference to the alleged plagiarism of Prime Minister Bettel, and "Wellebriecher" also in sixth, which means wave breaker. Eighth place went to "cringe", a phrase used to describe situational awkwardness, ninth place to "impfen" and "Impfung", so vaccinate and vaccine, while abbreviations "3G" and "2G" rounded of the pandemic-dominated vote in tenth place.

According to the Luxembourgish Centre, the word "Covidiot", which rose to popularity back in 2020, was also among proposals again, but received fewer votes than last year. Other notable mentions include "Gamechanger", "testen" (the act of testing), "Delta", "Omikron", "Wunnraum" (living space), "Plagiat" (plagiarism), and "Klimawandel" (climate change).