"Refugees" named word of year 2015 in German language

The German word "Fluechtlinge," which means "refugees" in English, was named "Word of the Year 2015" in the German language, the Society for the German Language (GfdS) announced Friday.

As an annual tradition, linguists of the GfdS Friday released the top ten words and phrases in news reports in Germany this year, choosing from around 2,500 proposals.

"Fluechtlinge" won the title not only because it was the dominant theme of the year, but also because the word is linguistically interesting, the linguists said.

The phrase "Je suis Charlie" ("I'm Charlie"), a slogan chanted by the public after the January terror attack targeting the editorial offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo which killed 12 people, ranked number two on the list.

"Grexit" came in third. A combination of the English word for "Greek" and "exit," it reminded people of the severity of Greece's sovereign debt crisis during the first half of 2015, as whether the country would exit the eurozone remained a pressing question then.

This is the 40th time that the GfdS has announced "Words of the Year." Instead of frequency, the main criteria for choosing the words are the significance and popularity of the words, the GfdS said.