Word of the Year for 2020

 Collins Dictionary Word of the Year for 2020

Each year Collins Dictionary releases a word or an expression that is used prominently during a specific year. The number of words published differ according to the amount of their usage; words spreading all over the world and used a lot by so many people in a specific year will be announced as the word or words of that year. The announced word typically addresses certain issue that is social/ political/ economic/ etc. it acts publically like the trend of the year that dominates the all over the speeches.   

During this year (2020), the global pandemic of Coronavirus is the most addressed issue that affected the whole world, and has dominated the publicity and advertising. Thus, it became the core social subject that threatens our lives and changes our lifestyle completely. Moreover, one of the basic strategy to avoid the infection of Covid19 is the restriction on travelling, social interaction, and accessing public places, which resulted in the '' Lockdown'' and the hashtag of '' stay home'' was released frightfully and enormously.

 

Consequently, the word '' Lockdown'' that reflects the shared experience of billions of people was announced by Collins dictionary as the most frequent word used in 2020. It is said that lexicographers recorded more than 250,000 usages of the word '' lockdown'' in 2020, arising from 4,000 usages last year.  

There are other words related to the pandemic and are listed on the top 10 strong list including: '' key worker'', '' self-isolate'', social distancing'' , '' furlough'', and '' coronavirus''. 

Additionally, with the massive spread of using the social app ''Tik Tokk'', the word '' Tik Toker''  has been released to describe someone who instantly shares content on the social platform of tik tokk. 

Also, we have noticed the trend of people eating a large quantities of food and share their experience on youtube or any other social platforms, and this is originally came from South Korea and spreaded all over the world, Collins Dictionary added the word '' mukbang'' that describes those people to the list of words of the year for 2020.     

To add more, the list also included the abbreviation ''BLM'' that is originated from the protestor's movement ' Black Lives Matter' against the death of the unarmed black man George Floyd in the US.