Culture | A word in your ear

All of our favourite words of 2024

Explore gaokao, chiplets, kidulting and dozens more intriguing terms

A woman is photographed by her friend while on a giant banana swing at The Museum of Ice Cream in Miami, Florida.
Photograph: AP

The Economist has chosen its word of the year, but one term can never sum up everything that happened over 366 days around the world. A wider view can be found in the Word of the Week. These are chosen, one per weekend, by the editors of the World in Brief.

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Multiple old records hanging at the end of some ribbons

The Economist’s pick of the best albums of 2024

A musical tour through pop, rap, rock and more

 Henry Kissinger

Was Henry Kissinger an AI “doomer”?

A posthumous postscript on a hair-raising topic 


An open book with some digital display on each page

The novel was a dominant art form last century

What does the 21st century hold for it?


The unholy alliance of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Kremlin 

Patriarch Kirill is one of the most vocal defenders of Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine

Does great literature translate into great television?

Netflix hopes so, with its adaptation of Gabriel García Márquez’s “One Hundred Years of Solitude”

How did “Dungeons & Dragons” win?

The role-playing game, celebrating its 50th birthday, continues to inspire players and Hollywood creators