NFTs have been around for a year. The art industry has been rejuvenated by billions. Some have made over $60 million. The entire NFT museums are here. They've come under a lot of scrutiny for their impact on the environment. Collins Dictionary has just named NFT its word of the year.
This selection is interesting because it's not really a word at all. Collins defines NFT as a unique digital certificate that is used to record ownership of an asset such as an artwork or a collectible. If you want more, here's our explainer.
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Technology terms dominated the list, with three words in total. The other two that followed "NFT" are "metaverse" and "crypto".
"cheugy" is a Gen-Z esque word that means "no longer in style" or "uncool". "Climate anxiety" and "Regencycore" were both used to describe distress caused by climate change.
The words aren't typically what you'd expect from a dictionary, but are indicative of our everyday language. Most of Collins' selections are in the year 2021.
pingdemic is the large-scale notifications of members of the public by a contract-tracing app. In the UK, the National Health Service's COVID-19 app is often used to inform users whether or not they need to self-isolated.
The winning words were selected from a database with over 4.5 billion words. You can't avoid them.
