Word of the Year 2020 | Pandemic | Merriam-Webster.
According to Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com – pandemic has been named word of the year and Oxford Dictionaries has reported a surge in the word by 57,000 per cent making it the most used word in 2020. While the word COVID-19 and coronavirus might be less obvious, the other managed to accompany it in 2020.
The best word ever -- according to deep lexicographical research, science, taste, and common sense -- is this: diphthong. McCagg got the idea for the project, he told me, while he was sitting in a restaurant.
of excitement, approval, surprise
Those are just a sample of the many words William Shakespeare invented. In fact, some say he invented somewhere between 1,700 and 2,200 words — possibly more. It's no surprise the English language owes a massive debt to Shakespeare.
Ding, ding, ding: Merriam-Webster on Monday announced “pandemic” as its 2020 word of the year. “That probably isn't a big shock,” Peter Sokolowski, editor at large for Merriam-Webster, told The Associated Press.
150+ Word of the Year Ideas for 2020
- Focus.
- Grow.
- Organize.
- Simplify.
- Bloom.
- Brave.
- Inspire.
- Thrive.
5 Steps for Choosing Your Word of the Year
- Step 1: Reflect. The first thing I want you to do is to reflect on this past year and ask yourself these questions.
- Step 2: Visualize.
- Step 3: Create a List.
- Step 4: Review & Refine.
- Step 5: Ask Yourself this VERY important question.
Also according to Wiki answers, the first word ever uttered was “Aa,” which meant “Hey!” This was said by an australopithecine in Ethiopia more than a million years ago.
100 most common words
| Word | Parts of speech | OEC rank |
|---|
| the | Article | 1 |
| be | Verb | 2 |
| to | Preposition | 3 |
| of | Preposition | 4 |
Here are the words setting the search trends through March 2019:
- Exonerate.
- Ruthful.
- Self-made.
- Naked.
- Ultima Thule.
- Vulva.
- Momo.
- Furlough.
The 20 Least-Known Words In English
- genipap.
- futhorc.
- witenagemot.
- gossypol.
- chaulmoogra.
- brummagem.
- alsike.
- chersonese.
#1 Lit Holding at #1 third year in a row, Lit (like on fire) literally remains “cool” for now. It has climbed from 4th place back at beginning of 2016, it may be that its position gets challenged by something fast moving like Drip, but it would probably need to be a term with as general a meaning as cool.
'The' tops the league tables of most frequently used words in English, accounting for 5% of every 100 words used. “'The' really is miles above everything else,” says Jonathan Culpeper, professor of linguistics at Lancaster University.
Merriam-Webster announced the pronoun “they” as its word of the year on Tuesday, marking the rise of the use of the venerable plural pronoun to refer to a single person whose gender identity is nonbinary.
The adjective toxic is defined as 'poisonous' and first appeared in English in the mid-seventeenth century from the medieval Latin toxicus, meaning 'poisoned' or 'imbued with poison'.
