“Pandemic” announced as Merriam-Webster’s 2020 word of the year

Merriam-Webster has announced “pandemic” as its 2020 word of the year.

The dictionary says searches for the word began to tick up consistently starting on Jan. 20, which is the date of the first positive case in the U.S.

The World Health Organization’s declaration in March that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic pushed searches even more.

Interest in the word on the dictionary’s website has been high through the year.

President-elect Joe Biden’s fondness for the word “malarkey” lifted the word to runner up status. The word is defined as “insincere or foolish talk.”

“Kraken” also saw a large spike in look-ups when Seattle’s new NHL franchise chose the word as its team name.