‘Demure’ Named 2024 Word Of The Year

Source: Kseniia Andreichenko / Getty

The word ‘demure’ has been announced as the 2024 word of the year by Dictionary.com.

This comes as no surprise after its popular use on social media in recent months, coined by TikToker Jools Lebron’s viral video using the phrase “Very demure, very mindful.

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According to reports from Dictionary.com, between January and the end of August, this term saw a nearly 1200% increase in usage of digital web media alone due to the viral sensation. “This sharp rise is mainly attributed to TikToker Jools Lebron’s popularization of the phrase “very demure, very mindful” in a series of videos posted to the platform in early August,” the site said.

Dictionary.com defines the term ‘demure’ as being characterized by shyness and modesty and to be reserved.

The original TikTok video posted by Lebron, 31, on Aug. 5 showed her sitting in a car with makeup on. A caption over the clip read, “How to be demure … at the workplace,” before she shared her tips with the camera.“You see how I do my make-up for work? Very demure, very mindful,” Lebron, who identifies as transgender, said. “I don’t come to work with a green cut crease. I don’t look like a clown when I go to work. I don’t do too much, I’m very mindful while I’m at work.”

The video has since garnered five million likes on TikTok.

Lebron told PEOPLE in August of the video attention, “When something like this happens you’re supposed to shy away from appreciating your own impact but I literally love it.”

“I still can’t believe it,” she added. “I’ve been doing this for eleven years and never saw the success I wanted to. So having this moment feels insane.”