When one takes a look at the word of the year for 2021 – VAX – it gives pause to wonder how and why it was the word of 2021.  This had me look at the word for 2020 – COVID – used to sum up chaotic and despondent feelings inspired by the year’s events. Leading me to look at the word for 2019 – CLIMATE EMERGENCY. Then the word of 2018 – TOXIC. From there I went to 1999 – Y2K.

What I learned was that every ‘word of the year’ is like taking a trip through time. The words were not necessarily new’ as I had expected them to be. Therefore it was not surprising to learn that the word of the year for 2001 was 9-11.

A single word can define an era, and it’s fitting that in this exceptional—and exceptionally difficult—year, 2021, a single word came immediately to the forefront and it was determined what the  Word of the Year would be.

Let’s take a trip through time:

• 1993 – Information superhighway – referring to the internet and smartphones
• 1998 – E – short for electronics – as in e-mail / e-commerce
• 2000 – chad – small scrap of paper from a voting card
• 2003 – metrosexual-  fashion-conscious heterosexual male
• 2006 – to be plutoed, to pluto – to be demoted or devalued
• 2012 – #hashtag – as in twitter accounts
• 2015 – ammosexual – one who love firearms

The Word of the Year need not have been coined within the past twelve months but it does need to have become prominent or notable during that time.