Language reflects social processes like nothing else, marking them with neologisms or anglicisms for lack of ready-made words. This is how fakes, accounts, posts, hubs, co-working spaces and many other familiar names and designations of phenomena appear. What arises in society and becomes widespread is always reflected in our judgments. The most important trends start the fashion for certain words. In each country, such words are noticeable, which are defined as the words of the year or decade. They can often be heard in a crowd or read in posts on social networks. The fiercest discussions unfold around them and the strongest emotions arise. In Ukraine this year, the word “busification” became. The palm of primacy was given to her by the dictionary of the Ukrainian language and slang “Myslovo”, which in 2014 started the tradition of the annual definition of the most influential words.
No chance for voluntariness
The word of the year 2024 according to the version of the dictionary of the modern Ukrainian language and slang “Myslovo” was “busification” – a term that ruthlessly accurately describes the process of forced mobilization under an accelerated procedure. This word has become the focus of public attention, because, like everything ironic, it simply and aptly points to the imbalance in approaches to mobilization: quantity wins over quality, and human rights are ignored.
The word was born from the concept of “bus” — the same minibus that many now associate not with a trip to the sea, but with quick “transformations”. The final touch was the suffixed particle “-ification”, which indicates transformation, but with notes of obligation. The principle is familiar from “Russification” or “verification” — and, frankly, leaves no chance for voluntariness.
Myslovo dictionary is a dictionary created by Internet users themselves, adding words and phrases that they consider appropriate to describe the current reality. That is why there is a lot of profanity in the dictionary.
Busification in Google trends
The term “busification” began to appear in the public and media space of Ukraine in 2024, in the context of the discussion of mobilization practices during the war. Its use has increased amid public outrage over cases of men being mobilized directly on the streets or in transport, often without due consideration of circumstances or even legal procedures.
The word gained popularity due to its ironic form, which simultaneously mocks the absurdity and emphasizes the seriousness of the situation. The term itself reflects public criticism of the system, which focuses more on “quantitative plans” than on transparency, voluntariness or qualitative selection of the mobilized.
Infographic: IA “FACT”
According to Google trends, the word began to gain popularity in September of last year. Interest in it reached peak values in October 2024. The western regions were most interested in this term (Volyn – 100, Lviv Oblast – 88), Kharkiv Oblast the least (11). Topics related to “Busification” were “mobilization”, “directive”, “Centre of recruitment and social support”.
Infographic: IA “FACT”
Words and antiwords
The German Language Society has been choosing the “Word of the Year” (Wort des Jahres) since 1972, and since 1991 it has also been defining the “Anti-Word of the Year” (Unwort des Jahres). In addition, German-speaking countries such as Austria, Liechtenstein and Switzerland also choose their own words of the year.
“Anti-words of the year” are a concept that causes concern in the Society, because they violate the “principles of human dignity” and encroach on the “principles of democracy”. These can be words that discriminate against social groups or are “euphemistic, confusing or misleading”. For example, in 2016, the anti-word was the word “traitors” (used instrumentally to stigmatize political opponents), and in 2017, “alternative facts” (as a symbol of manipulative disinformation).
If anti-words were fixed in the Ukrainian language space, busification would become the word of the year here as well, because negative experience and shameful meanings are accumulated in it.
“It’s shameful, it’s a sign of a wealthy society, when people of lower status are caught. This is not how it is necessary to awaken the militant principle in citizens and men” – so about busification expressed himself publicist and public figure Anatoly Yakymenko on the air of the ProUA program.
“Busification” is a national humiliation”, – stated on Public Radio Ihor Lutsenko, commander of the BpLA unit, commenting on the issues of forced mobilization, mobilization age and motivational contracts.
From Lalochezia to Magura
Among the candidates for word of the year, most of which reflect the challenges of the ongoing war, the following terms stand out:
- SZCH (voluntarily abandoning a part) — a problem that has acquired a mass character due to shortcomings in the organization of military service. The situation points to systemic challenges, in particular against the background of phenomena such as busification.
- Kursk operation — the most successful military operation of Ukraine last year, which proved the strategic skill of Ukrainian forces and drew the attention of the whole world to the role of Ukraine as a full-fledged subject of international processes.
- Fatigue — a natural consequence of the war of attrition, which affected not only the military, but also society as a whole, which seeks to find strength for further resistance.
- Talks — a word that evokes different emotions: from hope for the cessation of hostilities to fears about the possibility of freezing the conflict.
- MSEK (medical and social expert commission) — a symbol of corruption scandals that testify to the need to reform Ukrainian institutions even in times of war.
- Populism — a term that reminds us that pre-election promises and “sweet” programs remain relevant even in the most difficult times.
- Magura — a naval drone that changed the balance of power in the Black Sea, demonstrating technological progress and innovation in Ukrainian defense.
- Lalochezia — a word that explains why using profanity became part of the daily routine during wartime: it’s a way to relieve stress and pain.
- Quadrobers — a subculture of teenagers who adopted the behavioral traits of animals, becoming one of the most unusual social phenomena of the year.
Language does not simply reflect time—it exposes its contradictions. The words of 2024, from the ironic “busification” to the technological “magura”, testify not only to the adaptation of Ukrainians to the realities of war, but also to the urgent need for change. They indicate that we as a society are not always ready to admit our own weaknesses and problems, but even in the most difficult circumstances we continue to search for meaning, although sometimes the price of this search is bitter sarcasm.
