Definitions:

1. [ woom–uhn ] Noun: An adult female person.

2. One who, in certain places on the planet, is not permitted to determine what to do with her own body, particularly if she should become pregnant and does not wish to be.

3. Origin: from the Old English wīfman, which combines the words wīf and man. As in wife of a man. The original meaning of man, meanwhile, was simply “person.”

4. See “queen”; derives from a word simply meaning “woman.”

5. Consider: Queen Elizabeth II, the monarch of Great Britain for 70 years, one of the world’s longest reigning monarchs, before her death in 2022.

6. Consider: As of 2023, there will be a record number of U.S. women governors—12.

7. Consider: WNBA star Brittney Griner’s internationally condemned imprisonment by Russia and her subsequent release in December.

8. Consider: Online searches for the word woman increased more than 1,400% in 2022, a massive leap for such a common word.

9. The biggest search spike started at the end of March, during a confirmation hearing for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who in April became the first Black woman to be confirmed as a U.S. Supreme Court justice. The surge in online lookups came after Brown Jackson was asked by Senator Marsha Blackburn to provide a definition for the word woman.

10. Because apparently the senator, who alleges to be one, did not believe that a Supreme Court justice nominee could adequately define a woman.

11. Because it’s no longer a term only for people born female. We are so much larger, have so much more impact, more possibilities, more strength.

12. We hold multitudes, whether we decide to carry children or not. Whether or not we have ovaries and/or breasts.

13. Let us hold each other with kindness and gratitude, regardless of whether we fit others’ definitions of woman.

14. Let each of us be uniquely us, calling ourselves by our chosen pronouns, whether she, they or, yes, he.

15. Amen.

(Statistics and information from dictionary.com / 2022 word of the year)