Oxford Dictionaries had called on Hindi speakers to help choose the word.
Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com
The Oxford Dictionaries has announced 'Aadhar' as the Hindi Word of the Year for 2017.
Oxford Dictionaries had called on Hindi speakers across the country to help choose the word which should reflect the ethos, mood, or preoccupations of the year and it announced the final choice at the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival.
Oxford Dictionaries explained that it had chosen Aadhaar as the Hindi Word of the Year keeping in mind the massive push by the BJP government to get everyone to link every aspect of their lives to Aadhaar, the ensuing court cases and debate, the data breaches -- all of which are still in the news.
The official Twitter handle of Oxford Dictionaries wrote, 'After reviewing the hundreds of public suggestions received, and consulting the opinions of an advisory panel of language experts, Oxford Dictionaries has chosen its first ever Hindi Word of the Year: aadhaar.'
The advisory panel included Kritika Agrawal, Saurabh Dwivedi, Mallika Ghosh, Namita Gokhale and Dr Poonam Sahay.
Agrawal said, 'I believe that this initiative by the Oxford University Press is a milestone towards making the history of the evolution of Hindi accessible to future generations. The enthusiasm with which people have sent in their suggestions bears testimony to the relevance and need of this initiative.'
In case you missed it:
Check out the other words of the year
