'MeToo' is Macquarie Dictionary's word of the year

In a year that will go down in history for widespread social and political upheaval, it makes perfect sense that Macquarie Dictionary decided on 'Me Too' as the word that defines it.

Despite being introduced to wider lexicon in 2017, 'Me Too', both in the noun and adjective sense, was chosen by the word of the year panel because it "maintained its momentum" throughout last year.

"In 2018, [me too] started to spread its linguistic wings beyond the hashtag," the committee said in a statement.

"So, the fact that Me Too is now being used as a verb and as an adjective, combined with the undeniable significance of the movement, made the Committee's choice for Word of the Year 2018 a fairly straightforward decision."

The term 'me too' was first coined by US activist Tarana Burke in 2006, who started the campaign to encourage women of colour to share their experience with sexual assault. It was then popularised in 2017 when high profile female figures used it to share their own experiences of sexual assault or discrimination.

Macquarie also gave honourable mentions to 'Big Dick Energy' (or, BDE for the savvy) and 'single-use'.

The former refers to a kind of confidence or swagger that is exuded by celebrities like Rihanna, Anthony Bourdain and Pete Davidson. The latter is a nod to the landmark banning of plastic bags in major Australian supermarkets like Woolworths and Coles.