For the first time, two U.S. dictionary companies on Monday declared the same word their word of the year: “pandemic.”

Pandemic “probably isn’t a big shock,” said Peter Sokolowski, editor at large for Merriam-Webster.

“Often the big news story has a technical word that’s associated with it and in this case, the word pandemic is not just technical but has become general. It’s probably the word by which we’ll refer to this period in the future.”

John Kelly, senior research editor at Dictionary.com, said searches for “pandemic” spiked more than 13,500 percent March 11, the day the World Health Organization declared an outbreak of the novel coronavirus a global health emergency.

The spike, he said, was “massive, but even more telling is how high [pandemic] has sustained significant search volumes throughout the entire year.”

Pandemic, with roots in Latin and Greek, is a combination of “pan,” for all, and “demos,” for people or population, Sokolowski said, adding that the latter is also the root of “democracy.”

The word “pandemic” dates to the mid-1600s, used broadly for “universal” and more specifically to disease in a medical text in the 1660s, after the plagues of the Middle Ages, Sokolowski said.

The pandemic, Kelly said, also saw searches grow for words including “aerosols,” “contact tracing,” “social distancing” and “herd immunity,” along with the intricacies of therapeutic drugs, tests and vaccines that can help save lives.

Merriam-Webster began designating a word of the year in 2008, with “bailout” being chosen. Dictionary.com has been in the game since 2010, when it went with “change.”

Cambridge Dictionary has revealed its word of the year is “quarantine.”

The dictionary’s editors said that it was the third most searched-for word of the year, but comes in at No. 1 once you discount words that recur almost every year, such as “hello” and “dictionary.” Alongside “quarantine,” other coronavirus-related words, including “pandemic” and “lockdown,” ranked high on Cambridge Dictionary’s most popular list for 2020.

There were also several new words added to the dictionary, including “elbow bump,” referring to a friendly greeting that allows people to maintain social distancing.

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【瘟疫】 wēnyì plague an epidemic disease causing a high rate of mortality

【治疗的】zhìliáo de therapeutic of or relating to the treatment of disease or disorders by remedial agents or methods

本周一，两家美国词典公司宣布了同一个年度词汇“大流行病”，这还是有史以来首次。韦氏词典的特邀编辑皮特▪索科洛夫斯基说，大流行病（当选年度词汇）“很可能并没有让人大吃一惊”。

“重大新闻报道往往含有与大流行病相关的术语，在这种情况下，大流行病不只是一个术语，而是具有更普遍的意义。它很可能会成为将来我们指代这段时期的词语。”

Dictionary.com的高级调研编辑约翰▪凯利表示，世界卫生组织在3月11日宣布新冠肺炎暴发成为全球卫生紧急事件后，对“大流行病”一词的搜索量在当天暴增超13500%。他说，搜索量涨幅“很高，但更能说明问题的是该词在全年都保持着极高的搜索量”。

索科洛夫斯基指出，pandemic（大流行病）一词词根源于拉丁语和希腊

语，是pan（全部）和demos（人或人口）的组合。他补充道，demos还是democracy（民主）一词的词根。

英语中的“大流行病”一词要追溯到17世纪中期，当时被广泛使用的意思是“普遍的”，在中世纪大瘟疫后特指17世纪60年代医学文本中提到的疾病。

凯利指出，疫情期间“气溶胶”、“接触者追踪”、“社交隔离”和“群体免疫”等词以及救命的各种复杂的治疗药物、检测和疫苗词汇的搜索量都出现了增长。

韦氏词典从2008年开始评选年度词汇，当年的年度词汇是“纾困”。Dictionary.com从2010年开始评选年度词汇，当年的年度词汇是“改变”。

《剑桥词典》日前发布消息称，其评选出的2020年度词汇是“隔离”。

该词典的编辑们说，“隔离”在今年的搜索量中排名第三，但如果去掉“你

好”和“词典”这类几乎每年都出现的词，“隔离”就跃居榜首。除了“隔离”，“大流行”和“封锁”等其他新冠病毒相关词汇也在《剑桥词典》2020年度词汇榜单中名列前茅。此外，《剑桥词典》还添加了几个新词，包括“撞肘”，这是一种可以让人们保持社交距离的友好问候方式。 (chinadaily.com.cn)