Merriam-Webster just announced its Word of the Year. For some, it is a symbol of hope and health. For others, it’s a representation of a politicized issue.But as everyone can agree, the word is everywhere and it’s controversial.”Vaccine” is Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year. The word was selected based on lookup data, notable spikes, and year-over-year increases in searches.
“This is a word that has kind of two parallel but intersecting stories: one is a medical story, and one is a political story or a cultural story,” said Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster’s editor-at-large.
This selection comes after “pandemic” was chosen in 2020, which informed top searches on the site and reshaped daily language, according to the company. The Oxford English Dictionary selected “vax” as their word of the year
“Vaccine” was selected, according to Merriam-Webster, because it is a promising medical solution which became a major source of political division. New research into vaccines led the company to revise and expand its entry for “vaccine” in May. An entry for “immune response,” in which cells behave as though a disease is present to train the body to fight it, was added separate from “immunity.”
Read more at CNN.