Words of the Year 2026: Mogging and Maxxing
Read the article about the 2026 words of the year and fill in the gaps with the new words.
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Tokenmaxxing
hydration break
mogging
maxxing
Looksmaxxing
bixie
carspreading
P(doom)
unc
firewave
friendslop
ghost job
fricy
Affordability
nonnamaxxing
Every autumn, the big dictionaries compete to tell us what kind of year we've had, and 2026 is no exception. Two of the best-known names in lexicography have already made their choices, and both looked to the internet and to younger speakers for inspiration.
Collins Dictionary has named its Word of the Year. The term means outshining or upstaging someone, and its use rose by 210% this year. It is thought to come from "AMOG", short for "alpha male of the group", and first appeared around 2016 in bodybuilding circles. Ten years later, Gen Z and Gen Alpha use it half-jokingly: if a friend turns up to a party better dressed than you, they did exactly that to you.
The Collins shortlist reads like a snapshot of today's anxieties. Drivers who struggle to fit into parking spaces can blame , the habit of building ever longer, wider and heavier cars. Climate scientists have been watching the , the rapid spread of wildfires. Jobseekers have learned to be wary of the , a vacancy advertised by an employer with no real intention of hiring anyone, while people worried about artificial intelligence now talk about , the estimated probability that AI ends in catastrophe for humanity.
Not everything is so gloomy. Foodies have embraced anything , from chilli-mango cocktails to spiced fruit desserts. Hairdressers report demand for the , a cut somewhere between a bob and a pixie. Gamers came up with for cheap games that are only fun because you play them with friends, and football fans got used to the , a pause in play so players can drink.
Across the Atlantic, Dictionary.com chose , which means optimising something as far as possible. It comes from "maximum" and from "min-maxing", a gaming strategy for boosting a character's strengths. You can attach it to almost anything. , the drive to improve your appearance, got a lot of attention early in the year. means using as much AI as possible at work, and means adopting the habits of an Italian grandmother. Part of the word's appeal is that it cuts both ways: it can express a sincere wish to improve yourself, or gently mock the pressure to optimise every part of your life.
The runners-up mixed economics and culture. was at the centre of debates about housing and grocery prices, while younger speakers made popular as a teasing label for anyone who seems hopelessly out of touch.
Taken together, the two lists suggest that 2026 was a year of comparison and competition. We measured ourselves against each other, tried to get the most out of every hour, and worried about money, the climate and the machines.
Collins Dictionary has named its Word of the Year. The term means outshining or upstaging someone, and its use rose by 210% this year. It is thought to come from "AMOG", short for "alpha male of the group", and first appeared around 2016 in bodybuilding circles. Ten years later, Gen Z and Gen Alpha use it half-jokingly: if a friend turns up to a party better dressed than you, they did exactly that to you.
The Collins shortlist reads like a snapshot of today's anxieties. Drivers who struggle to fit into parking spaces can blame , the habit of building ever longer, wider and heavier cars. Climate scientists have been watching the , the rapid spread of wildfires. Jobseekers have learned to be wary of the , a vacancy advertised by an employer with no real intention of hiring anyone, while people worried about artificial intelligence now talk about , the estimated probability that AI ends in catastrophe for humanity.
Not everything is so gloomy. Foodies have embraced anything , from chilli-mango cocktails to spiced fruit desserts. Hairdressers report demand for the , a cut somewhere between a bob and a pixie. Gamers came up with for cheap games that are only fun because you play them with friends, and football fans got used to the , a pause in play so players can drink.
Across the Atlantic, Dictionary.com chose , which means optimising something as far as possible. It comes from "maximum" and from "min-maxing", a gaming strategy for boosting a character's strengths. You can attach it to almost anything. , the drive to improve your appearance, got a lot of attention early in the year. means using as much AI as possible at work, and means adopting the habits of an Italian grandmother. Part of the word's appeal is that it cuts both ways: it can express a sincere wish to improve yourself, or gently mock the pressure to optimise every part of your life.
The runners-up mixed economics and culture. was at the centre of debates about housing and grocery prices, while younger speakers made popular as a teasing label for anyone who seems hopelessly out of touch.
Taken together, the two lists suggest that 2026 was a year of comparison and competition. We measured ourselves against each other, tried to get the most out of every hour, and worried about money, the climate and the machines.