This year’s Dictionary.com word is nothing new to the English language, although, it’s definition may be.

A countless amount of monumental events and trends have gone on this past year, but one that doesn’t seem to have faded away is the topic of and word of the year: identity. From Caitlyn Jenner’s coming out as transgender, to Miley Cyrus’s coming out as pansexual in July, as well as her new campaign to raise money for homeless LGBTQ+ youth, to the controversy of Rachel Dolezal, identity has become an increasingly important topic.

CEO of Dictionary.com, Liz McMillan, said “Our data indicated a growing interest in words related to identity, as people encountered new terms throughout the year based on events tied to gender, sexuality, race, and other key issues.”

Especially with the current generation’s growing influence on pop culture and the media, it’s no wonder people would be curious. A major and ever growing topic related to identity has also sparked much conversation as well: sexuality.

In fact, terms that received more searches this year included transgender, cisgender, omnisexual, asexual, and pan sexual. Without a doubt, more and more individuals are figuring out who they are- both sexually and not everyday. Words that were added this year include microaggression, gender-fluid, gender expression and sapiosexual.

“The trends that we saw linguistically all point to a larger shift in the way society thinks about identity as being more fluid,” McMillan added.

Sophomore Danielle Grdovic said, “There are countless others who are still figuring themselves out, including myself, and the people who know who they are give the not-so-sure people figures to look up to, as well as giving us a helping hand in getting through this battle of identity.”