The end of the year is usually followed by plenty of reflection. Aside from personal goals and resolutions, plenty of words, symbols, and colors are chosen to represent the year. One example being the Word of the Year, a word chosen by a dictionary to characterize the year. The words are often chosen because of use in that year, or events that are tied to it.
Individually, these words can tell a lot about a year, but when looked at together, they can truly capture what was happening during those 365 days of the year. To show this, here are the chosen Word of the Year of 4 popular dictionaries, as well as the opinions of MLEC’s student body regarding those words.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
One of America’s most popular dictionaries, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary chose the word “vaccine” as their WOTY (Word of the Year). It is also the dictionary that MLEC students are most familiar with, according to the survey.
They define “vaccine” as “a preparation that is administered (as by injection) to stimulate the body’s immune response against a specific infectious agent or disease”.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccines have become a hot topic throughout the year. Between 2020 and 2021, Webster Dictionary has reported a 601% increase in searches of the word.
In the survey, around half of participants said that they have looked up the word vaccine in the past year.
Oxford Dictionary
Similarly to Webster, Oxford word was “vax”. Vax, another word for vaccination/vaccine, has risen in popularity in 2021, especially in the last few months, according to the dictionary.
When people think of vax, they often think of anti-vaxxers, those opposed to vaccination and vaccines. The word vax by itself was a relatively unused word before this year. The debate between the two sides, those for and those against the COVID vaccine, however, has made the word much more popular than before.
The word steadily increased in searches throughout the year, and in September 2021, the word saw a 72% increase in searches in comparison to September 2020.
Cambridge Dictionary
The Cambridge Dictionary, also a very popular dictionary, chose the word “perseverance” to represent the year.
According to them perseverance is, “continued effort to do or achieve something, even when this is difficult or takes a long time”. The word has been searched up over 240,000 throughout the year in their dictionary. The word was also a runner up for the Webster Dictionary.
Over 30,000 of those searches were made in February 2021 after Nasa launched their Perseverance Rover to mars. The word, however, is also symbolic of the many challenges and struggles of the year. From the pandemic, to the political, economic, and social issues that were faced in 2021.
Collins Dictionary
Unlike the previous words, Collins Dictionar’s WOTY isn’t related to COVID, but rather a rising trend, NFTs (non-fungible token). Collins defines NFTs as, “a unique digital certificate, registered in a blockchain, that is used to record ownership of an asset such as an artwork or a collectible.”
In an increasingly digital world, NFTs are becoming more and more popular, since a large amount of things are being created online, rather than physically. Examples of NFTs can include art, memes, photographs, and music.
In the survey, 14 out of 50 students said they’ve looked up the word NFT, the third largest number (out of a list of other words).
From vaccine concerns to rising technology, to the many other problems that people have faced throughout the year. These words— vaccine, vax, perseverance, and NFT say a lot about the type of year students, and people in the country, have had.
