Lockdown, a word that has come to define millions of Britons’ lives in 2020, has been chosen as the word of the year by the Collins Dictionary.
The dictionary said it added the term after a sharp increase in its usage during the coronavirus pandemic.
It said the word “encapsulates the shared experience of billions of people who have had to restrict their daily lives in order to contain the virus”.
According to the dictionary, lockdown is defined as “the imposition of stringent restrictions on travel, social interaction, and access to public spaces”. It came into common parlance as governments around the world responded to the spread of Covid-19 in early 2020.
Collins’ lexicographers registered more than 250,000 usages of the word during 2020, against only 4,000 the previous year.
The list of top 10 words also included other pandemic-related terms, including furlough, key worker, self-isolate and social distancing. The word coronavirus itself also features. The term key worker has seen a 60-fold increase in usage.
Key social and political moments, such as the Black Lives Matter movement and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepping away from senior royal duties, also influence the list.
The abbreviation BLM features after Collins registered a 581 per cent increase in its used.
Megxit, which is modelled on the word Brexit – Collins’ Word of the Year 2016 - makes the list following Harry and Meghan’s move to the US.
Other entries include TikToker, which describes someone who shares content on the TikTok social media platform, and mukbang, which originated in South Korea and describes a host who broadcasts videos of themselves eating a large quantity of food.
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 ‘lockdown’ as our word of the year because it encapsulates the shared experience of billions of people who have had to restrict their daily lives in order to contain the virus.
“Lockdown 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.”
Last year’s word of the year was “climate strike” marking a year in which 17-year-old Greta Thunberg led a global environmental movement.
