Collins Dictionary, one of the most renowned dictionaries globally, has chosen “NFT” as its 2021 word of the year.
According to a blog post by the publishers, searches for the word increased by 11,000% in 2021.
The dictionary has an annual tradition of picking its word of the year, and this year, NFT goes home with the prize.
NFT is short for non-fungible token. NFTs are digital assets that represent real-world objects like pictures, art, and music.
Each NFT has a unique digital signature and cannot be exchanged for another.
Collins describes NFT as “a unique digital certificate, registered in a blockchain, that is used to record ownership of an asset such as an artwork or a collectible.”
NFTs have continued to grow in popularity. In March 2021, famous NFT artist Mike Winkelman, aka Beeple, sold his NFT, a collage of all the art he had created every day for the last couple of years.
He titled it “Everydays: The First 5000 days,” and it sold for $69.3 million. The sale made him one of the most valuable living artists.
Other famous people who have sold NFTs include Canadian Musician, Grimes; former Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey; and pro wrestler, John Cena.
Speaking on their decision, Collins Learning Managing Director, Alex Beecroft, said, “It is unusual for an abbreviation to experience such a meteoric rise in usage, but the data we have from the Collins Corpus reflects the remarkable ascendancy of the NFT in 2021.
“NFTs seem to be everywhere, from the arts sections to the financial pages and in galleries and auction houses and across social media platforms.
“Whether the NFT will have a lasting influence is yet to be determined, but its sudden presence in conversations around the world makes it very clearly our word of the year.”
Other words which made the top 10 shortlist include Cheugy, Pingdemic, Crypto, Metaverse, Regencore, Hybrid Working, Neopronouns, Climate Anxiety, and Double-vaxxed.
This year, 2021, has been an eventful year for crypto and other related technologies, from countries like El Salvador holding Bitcoin to giant companies like Facebook and Square changing their names to accommodate their dreams of focusing on the blockchain.
Everyone, with or without their permission, has learnt a thing or two about crypto, and we predict it will only get better (or worse).
