Oxford dictionary Word of the Year replaced with Covid terms

OXFORD Dictionary Word of the Year replaced with Covid terms to reflect “unprecedented” 2020

Responding to an “unprecedented” 2020 Oxford Dictionaries has replaced its usual word of the year with its newly titled Words of an Unprecedented Year, which has been written to include a string of coronavirus-linked terms, such as superpreader, moonshot, furlough and Covid-19.

As well as coronavirus-related words, newly-used terms such as Black Lives Matter, cancel culture and bushfire have also made the cut, replacing last year’s hits of selfie and vape.

A spokesperson for the company explained:

“Of course, Covid-19 and all its related vocabulary provided a clear focus for our language monitoring this year but there were many other areas of activity which saw enormous language change and were equally demanding of our attention, such as political and economic volatility, social activism, the environment and the rapid uptake of new technologies and behaviours to support remote working and living.

“All of which goes to illustrate that 2020 is a year which cannot be neatly accommodated in one single ‘word of the year’.”

________________________________________________________________________

For more UK daily news, Spanish daily news and Global news stories, visit the Euro Weekly News home page.

Author badge placeholder
Written by

Sarah Keane

Former teacher and health services manager with a Degree in English, Sarah moved to Spain from Southern Ireland with her husband, who runs his own car rental business, in 2019. She is now enjoying a completely different pace and quality of life on the Costa Blanca South, with wonderful Spanish and expat friends in Cabo Roig. Sarah began working with Euro Weekly News in 2020 and loves nothing more than bringing all the latest national and international news to her local community.

Comments