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The word NFT has been chosen as the “Word of the Year” in the Collins English Dictionary for 2021

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May 31, 2025 2 views
DROPIDEA | دروب ايديا - The word NFT has been chosen as the “Word of the Year” in the Collins English Dictionary for 2021

As 2021 draws to a close, Harpercollins, the print and online publisher of the Collins English Dictionary, has revealed the 'Collins Word of the Year'. According to collinsdictionary.com, the word of the year is an abbreviation for non-fungible token, also known as “NFT.”

Collins Dictionary's Word of the Year is NFT  

Non-Fungible Token (NFT) collectibles have been approved by the Collins English Dictionary publishing team. The Collins English Dictionary was published by Harpercollins and was the first dictionary to be printed using a computer database edition. The word NFT was chosen to be the “Word of the Year” in the Collins English Dictionary for the year 2021. Every year, the Collins Dictionary is honored to award a specific term with the Word of the Year Award, and this year the word “NFT” is the winner of the title.

“NFT is short for Non-Fungible Token, the unique digital identifier that records ownership of digital assets that has entered the mainstream and seen millions spent on the most popular photos and videos,” the company explains further in a post announcing the Word of the Year. The post further adds: “It is one of three technology-driven words to make Collins’ 10-word list of the year, which includes seven brand-new words to Collinsdictionary.com.” The unofficial name “crypto” and the proposed 3D virtual environment “Metaverse”  

Other words that were popular this year include words like “metaverse” and “crypto.” The meaning of the word metaverse is “a proposed version of the Internet consisting of three-dimensional virtual environments.”  The Collins English Dictionary explains that the term “crypto” is an informal abbreviation of cryptocurrency, “a digital currency used for online purchases.”

The word NFT was chosen as the “Word of the Year” in the Collins English Dictionary for 2021. Interestingly, in May 2019, the Associated Press (AP) or the guidelines from the AP Stylebook, said that writers, journalists and academics should “avoid the use of shorthand cryptography, which can be confused with encrypted communications.”  The AP proposal was largely ignored by mainstream media and news publications dedicated to cryptocurrencies. Collinsdictionary.com has been much more liberal with editorial submissions and adding crowdsourced terms in 2012.

Collins has also published an official dictionary called Scrabble based on approximately 6,500 words of social media terms, slang, and the latest technology. Source

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