Voting is still open on the word of the year, with 10 candidates strongly in the running.
These include ‘lítio’ (lithium), ‘disinformação’ (disinformation), ‘sustentabilidade’ (sustainability), ‘jerricã’ (jerrycan) and ‘trotinete’ (scooter).
The light-hearted contest has been running since 2009 (when the word of the year was ‘Esmiuçar’ – to mull over) and is open to online participation on www.palavradoano.pt until December 31.
Organised by publisher Porto Editora, it’s something of a cultural taste of the year that is almost at its end, designed to highlight words most used in mainstream and social media.
Other possibilities for 2019 are ‘seca’ (drought), and ‘violência’ (violence).
Recent words of the year have been ‘enfermeiros’ (nurses) in 2018, and ‘incêndios’ (fires) in 2017 when over 100 people died in the worst forest fires in Portugal’s living memory.
