Word of the year chosen - are you surprised?

Word of the year chosen - are you surprised?

"Words that can express so much in a certain period are rare," Merriam-Webster said in a statement.

"The word vaccine took on a meaning other than medical in 2021. For many, the word symbolizes a return to life as it was before the pandemic. But the word is also at the heart of discussions about personal choice, political orientation, health inequalities, security in schools and other issues”, it explains.

According to Merriam-Webster, "the greatest scientific story of our time has quickly become the greatest debate in our country, and the word at the heart of the story is the vaccine."

The word "vaccine" was requested 601 percent more often than it was in 2020. Merriam-Webster also supplemented the definition of the word, which is now more nuanced and contains information about RNA in vaccine production.

The word "vaccine" and its derivatives come from the Latin word for cow (vacca) because cowpox was used to immunize humans against smallpox.

The company that publishes the dictionaries reminds that the word of the year 2020 was a "pandemic".