Kindness is Oxford Children's Word of the Year for 2024

More than six in ten children chose kindness as their word of the year, according to research by OUP. Researchers found that the word choice reflected children's awareness of mental health and current affairs – now that’s something to celebrate.

The research also showed children are cautiously optimistic about AI, with artificial intelligence voted second choice by a quarter of children. Slay was chosen as the top slang word for 2024, followed by sigma and skibidi.

The research involved more than 6,000 children aged 6-14 across the UK, and showed that mental health was a reason for some children selecting kindness, as well as the ongoing global conflicts. Several children mentioned learning about kindness at school or at home, while others noted: At the moment with all the conflict and the issues the world faces, kindness is a good way to go.

We couldn’t agree more :)