Collins: 2021 Word of the Year Finalist Unit Universe List

Collins, a UK-based dictionary company, today released the shortlist for its 2021 Word of the Year. It said that NFT, short for non-fungible token, topped the shortlist as the word of the year because it has been everywhere in the news this year and has aroused public interest.

New technologies based on blockchain are often difficult to explain, including NFT. For all the shortlisted words, Collins provided an easy-to-understand definition. The description of NFT is

1. Non-fungible token: A unique digital certificate registered in a blockchain that records ownership of an asset such as a work of art or a collectible.

NOUN

2. An asset whose ownership is recorded through an unforgeable token.

Artists sell their works as NFTs

Other tech-related words that made the shortlist were Crypto and Metaverse , the latter of which found new attention last month when Facebook changed its name to Meta.

The definition of Crypto is.

Combination form

Crypto- is added to adjectives and nouns to form other adjectives and nouns, referring to people who hold secret beliefs and principles.

And its definition of Metaverse is as follows.

NOUN

1. A Proposed Version of the Internet Including a Three-Dimensional Virtual Environment

2. A three-dimensional virtual world, especially in an online role-playing game

3. The universe depicted in a work of fiction.

In addition to these three technology-related words, Collins' shortlist also includes words related to other hot topics this year. They include "double-vaxxed" (referring to two doses of vaccination), "hybrid working", "pingdemic" (made up of pandemic and ping) and "climate anxiety". Finally, there are three words related to culture, including Neopronoun, Regencycore and cheugy.

From cnbeta