The word that defines 2020

There’s an outbreak in the world of words and it’s hard to contain!

Golden Globe and the Academy Awards have actor and actress of the year. Nobel Prize gives award to individuals who have greatest contribution to humankind. Then there’s Merriam-Webster Dictionary giving the ‘Word of the Year' award to the most used word of the year: 'Pandemic’.

As the year is at the verge of ending, perhaps it’s not too late to recognize 'Pandemic' as the dictionary's prized word of 2020. The said word was looked up 1,621% more than it had been last year as people’s curiosity spiked on February 3rd— the day when the first COVID-19 patient in the US was discharged from a hospital in Seattle.

The word ‘pandemic’ is defined as 'an outbreak of a disease that occurs over a wide geographic area (such as multiple countries or continents) and typically affects a significant proportion of the population'. In Greek, pan means “all” and dēmos means “people”, which both translate to “of all the people”.

On the other hand, epidemic, pandemic’s younger sibling, means “on or upon the people”. In general term, 'pandemic’ is an 'epidemic' that has affected a large demography.

As the COVID-19 data revealed a gradual rise of infections across the continents early this year, the World Health Organization, on March 11th, has declared that the 2019 coronavirus disease can be considered as a 'pandemic', greenlighting the single largest proliferation in dictionary traffic in 2020 with a massive increase of 115,806% lookups compared to searches on the same day in 2019.

But when you hail a champion, there should be a 1st runner-up: Coronavirus. ‘Miss Coronavirus' represented the medical field. It is an RNA virus that was given birth on 1968 when a group of research virologists noticed that, using a microscope, the virus looks like a solar corona during an eclipse.

Coronavirus bested 10 other 'word' candidates, paving its way to become a threadbare word even to children. It has killed thousands of people and infected millions. Indeed, coronavirus deserves the 'korona'.

Two other pandemic-related words also entered the top 10. ‘Quarantine’ ranking 5th and 'Asymptomatic' placing 8th.

In 2019, Merriam-Webster's word of the year was 'They', a pronoun that does not just mean plurality of a noun, but also used as third-person singular or to refer to a person whose gender identity is non-binary. Dictionary users could just hope that in 2021 the chosen word will be of worth to define the year.

Layout by Dannalie Degamo Photos from Eagle News and The Daily Chakra