The word "Lockdown" (which in Spanish-speaking countries has been translated as "confinement") was highlighted as the word of the year by the well-known Collins English dictionary, which registered an increase in 6.000% in its use with respect to 2019.

Collins define el bloqueo como “the imposition of stringent restrictions on travel, social interaction, and access to public spaces” (the imposition of strict travel restrictions, social interaction and access to public spaces), and its use has skyrocketed in the last year related to the coronavirus pandemic.

The dictionary corpus, containing 4.500 million words of written material from websites, books and newspapers, as well as radio, television and conversations, registry 4.000 lockdown cases in 2019, against more than a quarter of a million this year, as reported by the AFP news agency.

“Language is a reflection of the world around us and 2020 has been dominated by the global pandemic, '' Helen Newstead explained., one of Collins's lexicologists-. We have chosen lockdown as our word of the year because it sums up the shared experience of billions of people who have had to restrict their daily lives to contain the virus. The lockdown has affected the way we work, we study, we shop and socialize”.

And I add: “With many countries entering a second lockdown, it's not a word to celebrate, but it is, maybe, one that sums up the year for most of the world”.

Other words related to the pandemic such as coronavirus, social distancing, self-isolation and license were on the dictionary list of the top ten words. So was the term "key worker" (essential worker). According to Collins, the use of "key worker" experienced an increase of 60 times in the last year, which reflects "the importance attributed this year to the professions considered essential for society".

The previous words of the year for Collins were "climate strike" (climate strike) in 2019, “single-use” (single use) in 2018, “fake news” en 2017 and Brexit in 2016. This year, the top ten also included the word Megxit, defined as "the withdrawal of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex from royal duties, announced in January 2020 ".

Collins said that the informal noun, inspired by Brexit, sample “how firmly established that word is in our lexicon”. (TELAM)