Jugendwort des Jahres
The Jugendwort des Jahres (“youth word of the year”) is an annual German language award that names one slang expression as the year’s most notable. The 2026 Top 3 vote runs from August 28 to September 28, and the official winner is due on October 10, 2026.
Langenscheidt, the dictionary publisher now part of Pons, has organized the vote since 2008. Young people submit words, a jury narrows them to ten, and public voting decides the rest.
This year’s finalists came from a Top 10 round that ran from July 28 to August 20, 2026. Ragebait, Peak, and Crashout are the three finalists for 2026, chosen from a Top 10 that also included “67,” “Digga,” “Gute Käse,” “Macker,” “Schere,” “Süper,” and “Du bist gut genug.”
Each one carries a story about where German youth language comes from now: TikTok clips, basketball memes, gaming lobbies, rap lyrics, and multilingual neighborhoods.
One expression never made the ballot at all. Langenscheidt removed “Mehrzweckeier” before publishing the Top 10, and a group of youth associations responded by launching a rival vote of their own.
Key Takeaways
- The 2026 finalists are Ragebait, Peak, and Crashout, with the winner announced on October 10, 2026.
- Most nominated terms trace back to memes, gaming, music, and multilingual everyday speech instead of a single trend.
- Langenscheidt’s exclusion of “Mehrzweckeier” prompted the BUNDjugend to run a separate Bundesjugendwort vote.
Which Terms Are in the 2026 Top 10?
The ten nominated Jugendwörter for 2026 are 67, Crashout, Digga, Du bist gut genug, Gute Käse, Macker, Peak, Ragebait, Schere, and Süper. Langenscheidt published the list on July 28, 2026, after collecting submissions that opened on May 29.
The selection leans heavily on internet culture. Four terms come from memes or platform behavior, three describe people or reactions, and two arrived through music. One of those is a Turkish loanword that has circulated in Germany for decades.
Meme, Platform, and Gaming Terms: “67,” “Crashout,” “Ragebait,” and “Schere”
67 (spoken “six seven,” and known online as “Doot Doot”) is the strangest entry. It spread from an American rap track, Skrilla’s “Doot Doot (67),” and then attached itself to basketball memes on TikTok.
It has no fixed meaning. Young people say it as a punchline or filler.
Crashout describes losing control, an emotional meltdown, or a reckless decision made in the heat of the moment.
Ragebait is content designed to make people angry so they comment and share it. It’s a close relative of clickbait.
Schere (“scissors”) comes from the Gaming-Szene and marks an outrageous or absurd moment. It also appeared in the 2024 finals.
Praise, Reactions, and Familiar Address: “Digga,” “Gute Käse,” “Macker,” and “Peak”
Digga is a friendly form of address from Hamburg, roughly equal to “dude.” It sits alongside Bro and Alter in everyday speech.
Gute Käse (“good cheese”) means something is excellent. It’s a deliberately silly compliment.
Macker is an older German word for a guy or a boyfriend, revived with a slightly mocking edge for men who act tough.
Peak works two ways: it can mean a high point, or something so bad that it becomes remarkable.
Music and Multilingual Viral Expressions: “Du Bist Gut Genug” and “Süper”
Du bist gut genug (“you are good enough”) comes from the Kitschkrieg and Blumengarten track of the same name. Young people use it as sincere encouragement and, at times, as gentle irony.
Süper is Turkish for “super,” widely used in German cities and boosted by rapper Shirin David. Its rise also followed a viral Instagram clip of an Ultramarathonläufer, an ultramarathon runner, shouting the word during a race.
Where Does the 2026 Vote Stand Now?
Voting is currently in the final round. Three finalists remain from the original ten, and the Abstimmung for the winner runs until September 28, 2026.
The process moves in stages. Each round narrows the field, and Langenscheidt publishes each result on its official voting site.
From the Top 10 Vote to the Top 3 Final
Submissions opened on May 29, 2026. Langenscheidt’s jury reviewed the proposals and released the Top 10 on July 28.
The first Online-Abstimmung ran for roughly three weeks, from July 28 to August 20. Ragebait, Peak, and Crashout drew the most votes and advanced.
The second round started August 28 and closes September 28. Only these three appear on the ballot now.
When Will the Official Result Be Announced?
The winner will be named on October 10, 2026. In past years, Langenscheidt has staged the announcement at the Frankfurter Buchmesse, the Frankfurt Book Fair. The 2024 result was revealed there.
German media follow the announcement closely. Tagesschau presenter Susanne Daubner has become part of the ritual, reading the nominated terms aloud in clips posted to the broadcaster’s Instagram account.
Who Can Take Part in the Online Vote?
Langenscheidt directs the vote at people aged 11 to 20. Voting happens through the publisher’s official site, and no purchase or registration fee is involved.
The age framing is a guideline rather than a verified gate. Anyone can technically click through, which is one reason the vote draws recurring criticism about how well it reflects actual youth speech.
How Is the Official Selection Made?
Langenscheidt-Verlag runs the selection in two parts: an open submission phase, then a jury filter, followed by public voting. Pons, part of the Klett group, has owned the brand since 2019.
The jury weighs how widely a term circulates, how original it is, and how it connects to social and cultural events. Not every popular submission survives that filter.
Submitting Terms and Reviewing the Nominations
Anyone can submit a word during the collection window, which opened May 29 in 2026. Jugendliche send thousands of proposals through the official site.
The jury then groups similar spellings, removes duplicates, and checks whether a term appears in real use or only in coordinated campaigns. What survives becomes the Top 10.
Why Some Proposed Words Are Excluded
Langenscheidt removes terms it considers insulting, discriminatory, or the product of an organized push. The publisher points to campaign-driven submissions as a particular problem, since a single online call can flood the count.
Two well-known cases sit in the Jugendwort-History. “Alpha-Kevin” was pulled from the 2015 shortlist after concerns that it mocked people with that name, and “Hurensohn” was excluded in an earlier year as a straightforward slur.
How the Process Has Changed Since 2008
From 2008 to 2018, a jury of language experts and youth culture representatives picked the winner outright. The 2019 edition was cancelled entirely.
Since 2020, the public decides. That shift moved the contest away from expert judgment and toward whichever term mobilizes the most online votes, shaping both the winners and the criticism.
Why Has “Mehrzweckeier” Sparked a Separate Debate?
Langenscheidt excluded “Mehrzweckeier” from the 2026 Top 10 even though the publisher said it was among the most frequently submitted proposals. The decision triggered a competing vote organized by youth associations.
The term is political satire. It grew out of a protest sign reading “Merz leck Eier,” directed at Chancellor Friedrich Merz after a young person was detained over the sign.
“Mehrzweckeier” is a wordplay reshaping of that phrase.
Why Langenscheidt Excluded the Expression
The publisher said the expression amounted to a personal insult and that its submissions were campaign-driven. Both reasons appear in Langenscheidt’s public statement on the removal.
Critics point out that “merkeln,” a mocking coinage aimed at then-Chancellor Angela Merkel, won the 2015 title without objection. Langenscheidt hasn’t addressed that comparison directly.
What the BUNDjugend Alternative Vote Is
The BUNDjugend, the youth wing of a German environmental association, launched the Bundesjugendwort 2026 together with other youth organizations. Its ballot lists Langenscheidt’s ten terms plus “Mehrzweckeier.”
The rules differ. Anyone up to age 27 can vote. The first round ran to August 27, 2026, the final round runs to October 9, and the result is announced October 10, 2026, the same day as Langenscheidt’s.
What the Dispute Reveals About Participation and Youth Language
The BUNDjugend frames the exclusion as part of a wider pattern in which young people are left out of decisions that concern them. The organizers question why a private publisher issues the word for marketing purposes without involving nationally active youth associations.
They also acknowledge the limit of the whole exercise. Young people in Germany speak in many different bubbles, and no single word covers them.
The Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache runs a separate word-of-the-year award for general German usage.
How Has German Youth Language Changed Since 2008?
The winners since 2008 trace a shift from clever German compounds to short English and multilingual loanwords. Early entries described real-world situations; recent ones describe online behavior and feelings.
Each era leaves a residue. Some winners vanished within months, while others settled permanently into everyday speech across Germany.
Early Winners and Media-Era Coinages
The first winner, Gammelfleischparty (2008), mocked a party for people over 30. Nominees from that period included Bildschirmbräune (“screen tan”), unterhopft sein (“under-hopped,” meaning in need of a beer), and hartzen (living on unemployment benefits).
Later German coinages followed the news cycle: bam (2010), Bankster, Niveaulimbo, Arschfax, Egosurfen, and guttenbergen (2011). The last meant to plagiarize, after a plagiarism scandal.
English, Turkish, Arabic, and Digital Influences
Swag (2011) marked the turn toward English. YOLO (2012) and Fame (2013) followed, alongside Turkish and Arabic borrowings such as Yalla (“let’s go”), Babo (“boss”), and Hayvan.
German terms kept appearing, including gediegen (2012), Läuft bei dir (2014), Gönn dir, Smombie (2015), and merkeln.
Then came rumoxidieren, fly sein, bae, isso, I bims (2017), napflixen, tinderjährig, Ehrenmann/Ehrenfrau (2018), and verbuggt.
From Catchphrases to Enduring Everyday Language
The 2020s winners are compact and portable: lost (2020), cringe (2021), smash (2022), goofy (2023), Aura (2024), and das crazy (2025). Nominees such as wyld, bodenlos, Macher, side eye, NPC, sheesh, Talahon, goonen, checkst du, wild, and sus rounded out those shortlists.
Words like cringe and lost outlived the vote. They now appear in ordinary German conversation, in Berlin and beyond. That staying power separates a winner from a passing meme.
Everything About Germany covers this kind of language alongside other everyday customs, from Feierabend to the Gemütlichkeit that shapes social life.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Jugendwort des Jahres 2026?
It is the German youth word of the year for 2026, chosen through a public vote organized by Langenscheidt. The three finalists are Ragebait, Peak, and Crashout.
A full overview of the award appears on the Jugendwort des Jahres reference page.
What are the 2026 Top 10 youth words and what do they mean?
The ten nominees are 67 (a meaningless meme punchline from a rap track), Crashout (an emotional meltdown), Digga (dude), Du bist gut genug (you are good enough), Gute Käse (excellent), Macker (a tough-acting guy), Peak (a high point or something absurdly bad), Ragebait (content made to provoke anger), Schere (an outrageous moment, from gaming), and Süper (Turkish for super).
Langenscheidt published the list on July 28, 2026.
When will the Jugendwort des Jahres 2026 be announced?
The winner will be announced on October 10, 2026, after the final Jugendwort 2026 Voting round closes on September 28. The separate Bundesjugendwort result arrives the same day.
Who is allowed to vote for the official Jugendwort des Jahres?
Langenscheidt aims the vote at people aged 11 to 20, and voting takes place on the publisher’s official website. The BUNDjugend’s alternative ballot opens voting to anyone up to age 27.
What was the Jugendwort des Jahres 2025?
The Jugendwort 2025 was das crazy, an all-purpose reply for moments when someone has nothing better to say. It beat the other 2025 finalists and was widely reported by German broadcasters.