Why is Krisenmodus the word of the year – and what does it mean?

Der Krisenmodus, as you might be able to guess, translates as “crisis mode”. It denotes an all-hands-on-deck period where things feel like they are teetering on the brink of disaster and only careful planning and good crisis management can steady the ship.

If you look back at the past year – or even the past three years – it would be fair say that crisis mode has become the new state of normality.

Whether it’s the shock of the Covid pandemic to the outbreak of war in Ukraine and the Middle East, spiralling energy prices or impending budget doom, Germany’s government has lurched from one crisis to another – and much of the time has been tackling several at once.

That’s why, when it came to selecting the word of the year for 2023, there was only one that the German Language Society (GfDS) could pick.

According to GfDS CEO Andrea Ewels, German society has been in “crisis mode” since 2020, hurtling through the pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a domestic education crisis, and Hamas’ October 7th attack on Israel.

“The state of emergency has become a permanent state,” she said. “This triggers fear, insecurity and powerlessness in people. These feelings dominate everyday life and you don’t know what’s to come.”

So if you, like many, are ending the year on a slightly pessimistic note, it’s fair to say you’re not the only one. 

What’s the “word of the year” all about?

Selected by a panel of linguists and media experts, the word of the year has been an institution in Germany since the early 1970s, capturing the Zeitgeist of different eras in German history with just a handful of popular idioms. 

Every year, the GfDS judges sift through hundreds or even thousands of entries to pick out the words that seem to reflect the spirit of the year in question or hold a deeper significance. This is much more an important than how often a word is used in a certain year – though the popularity of a word does play a role.

READ ALSO: What do Germany’s top 10 words of the year say about 2022?

This year, there were 1,800 entries to choose from.

The first ever word of the year way back in 1971 was “aufmüpfig” – a word that doesn’t appear to have stood the test of time, possibly because the more anglicised “rebellisch” (or rebellious) has taken its place.

Other words of the year that have cropped up over time include Besserwessi in 1991 – a term referring to seemingly snobbish and know-it-all West Germans after reunification – and GroKo in 2013, an abbreviation for the Grand Coalition of the CDU and SPD. 

What were the runners up? 

As you might expect, the two runners up were also highly topical. 

The first, “Antisemitismus”, refers to a rise in anti-Semitism in the wake of the October 7th Hamas attacks on Israel and Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip. 

The second, “leseunfähig” (unable to read), refers to the dire scores that German pupils achieved in the latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) study, which ranks 15-year-olds around the world in maths, literacy and science. 

In a damning indictment of German schools and academic attainment, the most recent PISA rankings saw the performance of pupils in Germany decline dramatically since 2019, with German media describing the results as a “PISA-Schock.” 

In reading, pupils dropped a massive 18 points from 498 to 480 – so it may come as no surprise that “leseunfähig” was a prominent idiom in this endless crisis year. 

READ ALSO: German school pupils plummet to ‘lowest score ever’ in international rankings

How to use Krisenmodus: 

Dieses Jahr hat mich so müde gemacht. Wann wird der endlose Krisenmodus endlich vorbei sein?

This year has made me so tired. When will the endless crisis mode finally be over?

Krisenmodus soll das Wort des Jahres sein. Keine große Überraschung, oder? 

Crisis mode is apparently the word of the year. No big surprise there, right?