Dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster has named its word of the year for 2020 and it shouldn't come as a surprise: It's "pandemic."
Merriam-Webstersays searches for the word spiked more than 115,000 percent over the same time last year. Merriam-Webster editor Peter Sokolowski says searchers weren't only looking for a definition of "pandemic" but also for more information and details about the pandemic.
The dictionary's editors use a formula that weighs the raw number of look-ups with current events to come up with a list every year. Here are the other top word look-ups of 2020:
- Coronavirus
- Quarantine
- Asymptomatic
- Mamba
- Kraken
- Defund
- Antebellum
- Irregardless
- Icon
- Schadenfreude
- Malarkey