Trending: ‘self-made’

Lookups spiked 5,300% on March 5, 2019

Why are people looking up self-made?

Self-made pulled itself up by its bootstraps and topped lookups on March 5th, 2019, after Forbes used the word to describe newly minted billionaire, makeup entrepreneur, and Kardashian family member Kylie Jenner.

Kylie Jenner is the youngest-ever self-made billionaire, reaching a 10-figure fortune at a younger age than even Mark Zuckerberg https://t.co/P18m2ldrQk #ForbesBillionaires pic.twitter.com/RrenNvGbbE
— Forbes (@Forbes) March 5, 2019

What does self-made mean?

Self-made is defined as "made such by one's own actions; especially : having achieved success or prominence by one's own efforts."

Where does self-made come from?

Self-made wasn't entered by Noah Webster in his famous 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language, possibly because he thought that it was a self-explanatory expression. Its widespread and increased use over time prompted a stand-alone dictionary entry in the revised edition of Webster's Dictionary of 1864, with the definition "Made by one's self" and the following note:

Self-made man, a man who has risen from poverty, ignorance, or obscurity, to wealth, learning, fame, or power, by means of his own talents or energies, and without the aids by which a result is usually obtained.

Trend Watch is a data-driven report on words people are looking up at much higher search rates than normal. While most trends can be traced back to the news or popular culture, our focus is on the lookup data rather than the events themselves.