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Lockdown has been named the Collins dictionary word of the year 2020 at a time when dozens of previously uncommon words have become everyday due to the coronavirus.
Defining the confinement as “the imposition of strict restrictions on travel, social interaction and access to public spaces,” the dictionary said it added the term because “it encapsulates the shared experience of billions of people who have had to restrict your daily life to contain the virus. “
Collins’ lexicographers recorded more than a quarter of a million uses of confinement during 2020, up from just 4,000 the year before.
The annual 10-person addition list is dominated by words and phrases related to the pandemic, including license, key worker, self-isolation, and social distancing.
Coronavirus itself also counts.
The key worker has seen a 60-fold increase in usage reflecting the importance attached to professions deemed essential to society.
Helen Newstead, Language Content Consultant at Collins, said: “Language is a reflection of the world around us and 2020 has been dominated by the global pandemic.
“We have chosen confinement as our word of the year because it encapsulates the shared experience of billions of people who have had to restrict their daily lives to contain the virus.
“The blockade has affected the way we work, study, shop and socialize.
“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.”
The Black Lives Matter movement rose to prominence after the murder of George Floyd by a white police officer.
Also new in the dictionary is the BLM abbreviation for Black lives matter movement after the death of George Floyd in the United States.
Y Megxit makes an appearance, minted after Harry and Meghan decided to leave the UK for America.
Meghan and Harry’s departure to the US led to the word Megxit
This year, TikToker, which describes someone sharing content on the social media platform TikTok, and mukbang, defined as a host streaming videos of himself eating a large amount of food, were added to the dictionary for the first time this year.
