London: The highly-used word ‘lockdown’ during the COVID-19 pandemic has been declared Collins Word of the Year 2020, PTI reported.
The dictionary defines the word as “the imposition of stringent restrictions on travel, social interaction, and access to public spaces”.
“Our lexicographers chose lockdown as Word of the Year because it is a unifying experience for billions of people across the world, who have had, collectively, to play their part in combating the spread of COVID-19,” Collins was quoted as saying by the news agency.
“Language is a reflection of the world around us and 2020 has been dominated by the global pandemic…Lockdown has affected the way we work, study, shop, and socialise. With many countries entering a second lockdown, it is not a word of the year to celebrate but it is, perhaps, one that sums up the year for most of the world,” Helen Newstead, language content consultant at Collins said.
Many other pandemic related words have bagged a place in Collins’ long list of the top 10 words of the year, including ‘furlough’ or the temporary laying-off of employees, and ‘self-isolate’, or to quarantine oneself.
‘Megxit’, or Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle’s exit as senior members of the UK royal family, and ‘BLM’ or Black Lives Matter, the huge global anti-racism movement were also among the keywords. The word ‘mukbang’ from Korea, defined as “a video or webcast in which the host noisily eats a large quantity of food for the entertainment of viewers” also made it to Collins words of the year.
