‘Pandemic’ Is Merriam-Webster’s Word Of The Year 2020
PANDEMIC – The Merriam-Webster Dictionary’s chosen Word of the Year 2020 is none other than the term ‘pandemic’.
According to Merriam-Webster, the term had the most online dictionary lookups of any word. This came after a year in which at least 1.4 million people have died from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Sometimes a single word defines an era, and it’s fitting that in this exceptional – and exceptionally difficult – year, a single word came immediately to the fore,”
The term is defined as an “an outbreak of a disease that occurs over a wide geographic area (such as multiple countries or continents) and typically affects a significant proportion of the population,”.
For its etymology, the term is derived from the Greek term “pan“, which means ‘all‘, and “demos“, which means ‘people‘.
Lookups in the dictionary have skyrocketed on March 11, when the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 as pandemic.
“The term saw the single largest spike in dictionary traffic in 2020, showing an increase of 115,806% over lookups on that day in 2019,”
Based on the report, the word of the year in 2019 was ‘they‘, which is used to describe someone who does not identify as male nor female. This was followed by “justice” in 2018, “feminism” in 2017 and “surreal” in 2016.
Meanwhile, the Collins Dictionary’s Word of the Year 2020 is the term ‘lockdown’.
VISIT: ‘Lockdown’ Now Collins Dictionary Word Of The Year In 2020
The term ‘lockdown’ is defined as the imposition of stringent restrictions on travel, social interaction, and access to public spaces.
What do you think of this report? How will you react to this? Let us know more about it in the comments below.
READ ALSO: Maxine Medina Joins Cast Of Sanya Lopez’s ‘First Yaya’, Celebrities React
Check out our latest news at philnews.ph or in our following social media pages
Facebook: /PhilNews
Twitter: @PhilNews247
Instagram: @philnewsph