"Parasocial" is the Cambridge Dictionary's word of the year

The term dates back to 1956, when American sociologists observed viewers forming “parasocial” relationships with on-screen personalities. Editor-in-chief Colin McIntosh said it has recently been used to describe “a type of relationship between a person and a non-person, such as a celebrity.”

“Parasocial” is the Cambridge Dictionary’s word of the year, defined as a relationship that someone feels between themselves and a famous person they don’t know. An example that encompasses this phenomenon is the parasocial interest that fans showed when singer Taylor Swift and American football player Travis Kelce announced their engagement.

The term dates back to 1956, when American sociologists observed television viewers forming "parasocial" relationships with on-screen personalities.

Editor-in-chief Colin McIntosh said it has recently been used to describe "a kind of relationship, between a person and a non-person, for example a celebrity."

"It was originally created as an academic word and was confined to the academic domain for quite a long time. It has only recently made a shift into the vernacular and is one of those words that has been influenced by social media," he said.

Other examples given by the dictionary include: Lily Allen's breakout album "West End Girl," which has led to a parasocial interest in her love life; and the urgency of parasocial relationships with Artificial Intelligence robots, which features humans treating them as interlocutors, friends, or even romantic partners.

The narrative nature of podcast hosts is said to have replaced real-life friends and fostered parasocial relationships. The dictionary has seen a surge in searches for the word after YouTube influencer “IShowSpeed” blocked a dedicated fan as his “number 1 parasocial.”
The word was first coined by University of Chicago sociologists Donald Horton and Richard Wohl, who observed viewers engaging in "parasocial" relationships with television characters, similar to those they formed with family and real friends.
They noticed how the medium of television, which was spreading very quickly, had brought the faces of actors directly into viewers' homes, making them like installations in people's lives.
"We're not the ones who judge what's a good word, what's bad, and whether it's valid - it just has to stand the test of time and people use it everywhere," said editor Jessica Rundell.
New words that have entered the Cambridge Dictionary are: "skibidi", "delulu" and "tradwife".