‘NFT’ is Collins’ Dictionary Word of the Year for 2021, beating ‘crypto’ and ‘cheugy’

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Written by Jack Guy, CNNLondon

“NFT”, short for “non-fungible token”, was named Word of the Year by dictionary publisher Collins, beating “crypto” and “cheugy” in first place.

An NFT is “a unique digital certificate, saved in a blockchain, which is used to register ownership of an asset such as a work of art or a collector’s item,” according to a Collins blog post, published Wednesday. .

Acting as virtual signatures, NFTs prove the authenticity of a work of art as the blockchain serves as incorruptible proof of ownership, meaning that “original” works of art and their owners can still be identified through the blockchain, even if an image or video is widely replicated.

They are also a source of scarcity and, as a result, the digital art market is booming. In March, a digital artwork titled “Everydays: The First 5000 days” sold for $ 69.3 million through Christie’s, raising awareness of its creator, graphic designer Mike Winkelmann. like Beeple, one of the art market’s most valuable living artists.

The idea of ​​a digital revolution is also captured in another of the dictionary candidates for word of the year: “crypto,” short for “cryptocurrency,” a digital currency that challenges traditional forms of currency. , according to Collins.

He also named “metaverse” in his blog post, following Facebook’s announcement that he would change his company name to Meta.

Other selected words reflect the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, with “double vaxxed” and “hybrid work” being shortlisted.

“Climate anxiety” reflects a growing concern about the damage humans are doing to the planet, while “neopronom” is a way of referring to a person without using their name or traditional markers of their gender, such as ” he and she “. Collins gives “xe”, “ze” and “ve” as examples of neopronoms.

Rounding out the list, “Regencycore,” which is defined as a fashion aesthetic inspired by Georgian-era clothing seen on the Netflix show “Bridgerton,” and “cheugy,” which is used to say that something is wrong. is outdated or not cool.

In 2020, Collins named “lockdown” his word of the year, for obvious reasons, and earlier this month Oxford Languages ​​made “vax” his choice for 2021.

Defined as “a colloquial phrase meaning vaccine or immunize as a noun and vaccinate as a verb,” ​​vax was relatively rare until this year, said the company, which publishes the Oxford English Dictionary.

In September, vax appeared more than 72 times more frequently than the year before, said Oxford Languages, which analyzes news content to track changes in the English language.

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