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500 Words 2019

Children's Word of the Year: 2018 Insights

Oxford Dictionaries for Children has once again teamed up with BBC Radio 2's 500 WORDS – the nationwide competition to find the most talented young writers!

Children's Word of the Year: 2018 Insights

Oxford Dictionaries for Children has once again teamed up with BBC Radio 2's 500 WORDS – the nationwide competition to find the most talented young writers!


Oxford Children's Word of the Year

A record number of over 134,000 children entered the BBC Radio 2 500 Words competition this year. The 2018 Children’s Word of the Year is plastic.

The use of the word plastic shows in new contexts in 2018. In 2017, some of the words associated with plastic were bag, box, bottle, cup, chair, toy and spoon. In 2018, we have bag, bottle, rubbish, ocean, fish, waste and pollution. For the first time the word has been used in an emotive context, the recurrent theme being the damage caused by plastic pollution.


For detailed analysis, read the Oxford Corpus Summary Report

500 Words 2018 Insights

The Environment

The Environment

Gaming vs Playing

Gaming vs. Playing

Mythical Creatures

Mythical Creatures

Women in History

Women in History

Word Play

Word Play

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