Oxford Languages declared “Vax” as the dictionary’s Word of the Year for 2021.

Since the pandemic began, the word “vax” which is basically the common word of “vaccine” has become one of the most regularly used word for this year, according to Oxford’s Lexicologists.

There are currently several versions of the word derived from it such as vax sites, vax cards, vaxxed, and fully vaxxed -the terms being used during the onslaught of the Coronavirus in 2019.

This term was initially used to describe a vaccine or immunization in the early 1980s. It was originally defined as a noun, but in the twenty-first century, it became a verb.

The word ‘’vax’’ was known to have a single x, but the double x from the word itself is also given.

“Whether you are vaxxed, double-vaxxed, or unvaxxed, the language relating to vaccines and vaccination permeated all of our lives in 2021,” according to an Oxford investigation that looked into the word’s rapid surge in popularity.

“A relatively rare word in our corpus until this year, by September it was over 72 times more frequent than at the same time last year. No word better captures the atmosphere of the past year than vax,” Oxford added.

There is some variation in the spelling of VAX verses VAXX, but the form with one “x” is more common.https://t.co/ZyxhlIvXNn pic.twitter.com/mi64d3TKKM

— Oxford Languages (@OxLanguages) November 1, 2021

Oxford Languages also stated that “jab” in the UK and “shot” in the US are synonyms for vax, but both have other connotations and are only used as common colloquialisms in select places, ruling them out the running.

With the advent of the internet, people are getting used to the term, however, some folks have a unique take on this word. Others felt the phrase “vax” might be a silver lining to the virus that is currently sweeping the globe, but some people regard it as a “new drug,” and refuse to take it because of numerous online rumors.

Moreover, the popularization of the word “vax” is based on the usage evidence that Oxford has drawn from its data of more than 14.5 billion words, gathered from news sources around the English-speaking globe.

Today, “vax” along with the word ‘’chav’’ (2004), ‘’selfie’’ (2013), ‘’vape’’ (2014), the Face with Tears of Joy emoji (2015) and ‘’climate emergency’’ (2019), has joined the record.

Source: https://languages.oup.com/word-of-the-year/2021/?fbclid=IwAR262vqFtz3-KdllV55SZzycrNHK9X2soagqSomcQ07RRNV-NN9CIscxbKI