Why is the Word of the Year often made up of two words?

We get asked this question a lot, so we thought we’d get in ahead of the game. Readers, take note. What is a ‘word’? When we consider the lexical treasures of the year that has been, we will crown one lexical item as the ‘Word of the Year’. It may, or may not, be made up of two (or more!) words. Here’s why: