Collins Dictionary names 'lockdown' the word of the year, as if any of us needed a reminder

It's been an unprecedented, weird year, hasn't it? Now we're in November, we can finally say, the end of 2020 is nigh. It can't come soon enough.

Before it does, one annual thing dictionaries love to do is declare a word of the year — a term that sums up the zeitgeist, the mood, or political events that defined the year in question.

Which is why Collins Dictionary chose "lockdown" as its Word of the Year for 2020. Not that any of us need a reminder of the COVID-19 restrictions that played such a big role in our lives this year.

In a blog post explaining the choice, Collins defined lockdown as "the containment measure implemented by governments around the world to mitigate the spread of COVID-19." Lockdown orders have been issued either nationally or locally in many countries across the world since the outbreak of the coronavirus. Country-wide lockdowns since the beginning of the year have included New Zealand, France, and the UK, where England has just gone into its second lockdown.

"Our lexicographers chose ‘lockdown’ as Word of the Year because it is a unifying experience for billions of people across the world, who have had, collectively, to play their part in combating the spread of COVID-19," the blog continued. "Collins registered over a quarter of a million usages of ‘lockdown’ during 2020, against only 4,000 the previous year."

Collins' shortlist featured other words that sum up the events of the past year of our lives. Coronavirus was, of course, on the shortlist, alongside key worker, self-isolate, furlough, and social distancing.

The shortlist also featured BLM, the acronym for Black Lives Matter, the movement that campaigns against police brutality and racist violence against Black people. Following the police killing of George Floyd in May 2020, the world mobilised and streets across the globe filled with protesters united against systemic racism and violence.

Internet culture also made several appearances on the shortlist. From #Megxit (the withdrawal of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle from royal duties) to TikToker, and mukbang (a Korean word for videos in which people eat large quantities of food for entertainment purposes).

2020: Quite the year...