The Most Searched-for Word Definition in Every Country

“There is no nation without language, because there's no collectivity without a language,” says Ilan Stavans, Lewis-Sebring Professor of Humanities and Latin American and Latino Culture at Amherst College. “[L]anguage is more than simply the way that the nation communicates with itself. Language is the instrument to create history and also a vision of where the nation is going.”

The words we choose, the words we borrow and the way we interpret them — even within the same language — are both personal and political. While we may not need language to think, words are how we articulate our thoughts and shape our (collective) identities. And so it is that word meanings evolve and come to fit our world as our cultures change and grow — with old words often growing into new uses that leave many of us grappling for dictionaries, “Urban” or otherwise.

In our new study, data scientists at WordTips found the word definition that each country searched for the most in 2024. Using the Keyword Research Tool from Semrush, we ranked words based on the volume of Google searches for their definitions. Searches were conducted in local languages to uncover the most googled word definitions worldwide.

Key Findings

• Demure, Fascism and Resilience are the most searched-for word definitions in six countries each.
• The most searched-for definition in the U.S. is Gaslighting, which has 110,000 monthly searches.
• The UK’s most searched-for definition is Diversity (9,900 monthly searches).
• Integrity is Canada’s most searched-for definition (8,100 monthly searches).
• In Australia, Genocide is the most searched-for definition, with 4,400 monthly searches.

Brazilian Slang Word is World’s Most Searched Definition

The most searched word in any country is boyceta, which Brazilians search for 220,000 times per month. This is a slang word for a trans man or their genitalia; the closest equivalent in English might be pussy-boy or ‘mangina.’ But it has also been adopted to describe gender identity, with rapper Jupitter Pimentel recently stating, “I understand the nuances of gender, where it’s heading, and being a 'boyceta' gives me a lot of freedom to express my femininity when I want to and to have this somewhat 'queer' identity, which feels really good.”

North America: Gaslighting and Niche Are America’s Most Searched-for Words

In Mexico, the most commonly searched meaning is for the word law, with 18,100 monthly searches. The word is up there with other ethics-oriented words commonly searched across North America, such as integrity, vulnerability, respect and resilience. The Open University defines law as “a set of rules created by the state which forms a framework to ensure a peaceful society. If the rules are broken, they can be enforced through mechanisms created by the state and sanctions imposed.”

There are two words that Americans search for around 110,000 times per month: gaslighting and niche. Coming from Latin and French words for nesting, niche’s meaning expanded as it entered the English language to mean both a small or cozy architectural space and a metaphorical, well-fitting space that a person might occupy or share — a job or special interest. But how to say it? “There are two common pronunciation variants, both of which are currently considered correct,” suggests Merriam-Webster. “\NEESH\ (rhymes with sheesh) and \NICH\ (rhymes with pitch).” Your choice may depend on which side of the Atlantic you’re huddled.

Integrity is Canada’s watchword, or at least the word Canadians most want to understand, with 8,100 monthly searches. The word runs through Canadian culture, from its integrity committees to the principles of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), which abides by the tenets of “accuracy, fairness, balance, impartiality and integrity.” However, the word — which can mean “truthful” or “whole” — is somewhat ambiguous in the context of morality since somebody with integrity might stick to their values, however immoral they might be.

South America: Venezuela Seeking Resilience

Venezuela’s most searched-for word definition is resiliencia, or resilience. The Royal Spanish Academy defines the word, in Spanish, as the “Capacity of a living being to adapt to a disturbing agent or an adverse state or situation.” Organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross have raised the profile of the word in response to Venezuela’s challenges with violent crime, climate change and the economy in recent years.

Europe: Fascism, ASMR and Dank

Local versions of the word for fascism are the most searched in five European countries — more than any other word. But two pairs of countries also seek the meaning of internet-era buzzwords. ASMR, which stands for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response, refers to the ‘brain tingles’ some people enjoy when witnessing intimate moments and is top in Belgium and the Netherlands. The roots of dank are six hundred years old, and it has come to refer to a cold, damp or musty place since at least 1735. In its modern use, dank can refer to the quality and power of a particular batch of marijuana or the downbeat pungency of a meme or situation. It is the most searched-for definition in Greece and Hungary.

Google search volume data returns five words that the UK searches for around 9,900 times monthly — with high-volume searches for fascism, genocide and Zionism reflecting world events. But another top-searched word, hubris, has had generations reaching for their dictionary. Grammarly calls hubris “excessive pride that can lead to someone’s downfall.” Hubris can be differentiated from mere arrogance by hubris’ likelihood to result in over-reaching one’s limits or rights, as was the case in Ancient Greece, from where the word originates.

Middle East and Central Asia: Defining Artificial Intelligence

The most commonly searched meaning in both Oman and Kuwait is الذكاء الاصطناعي (Artificial intelligence). The phrase is notoriously hard to define since ‘intelligence’ is usually considered a human quality, so those who try must first decide what they mean by intelligence. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) officially defines AI as “a technical and scientific field devoted to the engineered system that generates outputs such as content, forecasts, recommendations or decisions for a given set of human-defined objectives.” However, ISO acknowledges that public understanding of the term has evolved in the age of generative AI: “While traditional AI systems are primarily used to analyse data and make predictions, generative AI goes a step further by creating new data similar to its training data.”

Rest of Asia and Oceania: Very Demure, While Australia Grapples with the Meaning of Genocide

Among the most searched-for definitions in this part of the world is demure, which is number one in Vietnam as well as five other countries worldwide, including Belize, Botswana and Lebanon. “Demure” may evoke the golden age of Hollywood and the use of the word to describe the art of “affecting shyness or modesty in order to attract masculine interest,” but it reentered widespread use in the summer after creator Jools Lebron’s viral TikTok. “You see how I do my makeup for work?” she told viewers. “Very demure. Very mindful.” Lebron’s zeitgeisty declaration arguably influenced the fashion world, with labels like Carven, Ferragamo and Valentino Garavani playing it subtly on the runway this season.

Australia has two words it searches for the most: genocide and nuance, with 4,400 monthly searches each. “The word “genocide” was first coined by Polish lawyer Raphäel Lemkin in 1944 in his book Axis Rule in Occupied Europe,” according to the UN Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect. “Lemkin developed the term partly in response to the Nazi policies of systematic murder of Jewish people during the Holocaust, but also in response to previous instances in history of targeted actions aimed at the destruction of particular groups of people.” The word has had renewed attention in Australia following the October 2024 visit of King Charles, as well as events in the Middle East.

Africa: Algeria Questions the Limits of Tolerance

Africa’s top-searched definitions are a heterogeneous bunch; no two countries share the same top word. The most Googled word in Algeria is التسامح (tolerance), with 4,400 monthly searches. The Algerian constitution guarantees “toleration and respect of different religions,” although there have been questions over how far this has been upheld. Algeria’s envoy to the UN has, in turn, questioned the Security Council’s narrative of “tolerance” in a moment characterized by "war, conflicts, crisis, massacres and even genocides in the 21st century."

Assigning Meaning

The internet age has facilitated a greater sharing of words between cultures and languages in a manner that has been more or less democratic. And word meanings have always been shaped by peoples’ everyday use of them, even if it is up to lexicographers to formalize definitions in the dictionary.

However, the integration of AI into daily practices may limit or influence the way we share languages between cultures. With Microsoft’s plans to let Teams users harness AI-powered voice clones to “speak to others in meetings in different languages,” the power of assigning and discovering meaning we assign to words is under the control of a corporation. If meaning is created with dialogue, we must be careful not to let the dialogue out of our hands.

Methodology

To determine the most searched-for word definition in every country, we analyzed Google search volume data using the Keyword Research Tool from Semrush.

Notes:

• We ranked words based on the volume of Google searches for words queried in conjunction with “definition” and their translations across languages in different countries. 
• For countries where English isn't the native language, we took the English results if the search volumes were greater than the native results.
• For the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada, we retrieved the 10 most searched-for word definitions.
• Tied rankings based on equal search volume were separated based on their rankings within Semrush.
• The data was collected and analyzed in November 2024.