The 2023 Dutch word of the year has been announced (and it’s infuriating)

Thanks, capitalism. 🙄💸

It’s that time of the year again! The Van Dale dictionary has chosen graaiflatie as the 2023 Dutch word of the year.

Graaiflatie comes from the Dutch words graai and inflatie, combining the two words meaning grab (as in greedy) and inflation — “grabflation”, if you will.

According to the Van Dale dictionary, the term refers to “inflation fuelled by activities that excessively charge the cost increase of raw materials, means of production and labour to the consumer to maintain or increase their profits.”

Yep, sounds pretty infuriating to us.

READ MORE | The cost of living in the Netherlands in 2023

Think of KLM increasing ticket prices for passengers to offset new taxes on flights or supermarkets offering smaller products for the same price.

Unfortunately, this year “grabflation” is everywhere, so it’s no wonder it’s so popular. 🙄

Netherlands energy crisis: Households cut themselves off from gas

The nominees

Competition was tough this year, but there’s nothing more fitting for 2023 than extortionate grocery bills.

READ MORE | Which Dutch city has the lowest cost of living?

Going head-to-head with nine other words, graaiflatie won a whopping 65% of the vote, reports RTL Nieuws.

Curious about the top 10 words in the Netherlands this year? Take a look:

RankWord
1Graaiflatie (grabflation)
2Vreugdebier (joy beer)
3Nepobaby (nepo baby)
4Bestuursschaamte (administrative shame)
5Hittefit (Heat fit)
6Sportfluencer (sport’s influencer)
7TikTokjustitie (TikTok justice)
8Treitertaks (Harraser tax)
9Wokewashing
10X’en

What do you think of 2023’s Dutch word of the year? Tell us in the comments!

Feature Image:Freepik
Katrien Nivera 🇵🇭
Katrien Nivera 🇵🇭
Third culture kid Katrien has been working as a writer and editor at DutchReview for over two years, originally moving to the Netherlands as a tween. Equipped with a Bachelor’s in communication and media and a Master’s in political communication, she’s here to stay for her passion for writing, whether it’s current Dutch affairs, the energy market, or universities. Just like the Dutch, Katrien lives by her agenda and enjoys the occasional frietje met mayo — she just wishes she could grow tall, too.

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