Merriam-Webster's 2021 word of the year is 'vaccine.' The runner-up is 'insurrection.'

Merriam-Webster
(Image credit: Joanne K. Watson/Merriam-Webster via Getty Images)

Dictionary company Merriam-Webster unveiled its word of the year for 2021, and it is "vaccine." That is a logical follow-up to its 2020 word of the year, "pandemic," and it matches the Oxford English Dictionary's word for 2021, "vax." But "while other dictionary companies choose words of the year by committee," The Associated Press reports, "Merriam-Webster bases its selection on lookup data, paying close attention to spikes and, more recently, year-over-year increases in searches after weeding out evergreens."

And searchers for "vaccine" increased 601 percent over 2020 and 1,048 percent over 2019, Merriam-Webster said. "This was a word that was extremely high in our data every single day in 2021," Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster's editor-at-large, told AP. "It really represents two different stories. One is the science story, which is this remarkable speed with which the vaccines were developed. But there's also the debates regarding policy, politics, and political affiliation. It's one word that carries these two huge stories."

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.