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The Collins Dictionary has chosen NFT, which stands for non-fungible token, as the word of the year. In 2021, the term’s use grew by 11,000 percent, indicating that it has recently risen to prominence.
On Collins’ shortlist of ten words of the year, NFT knocked out two similar tech-related words. According to Collins, crypto usage is rising 468 percent year over year. And there’s the metaverse, which Neal Stephenson defined in his book Snow Crash in 1992. Metaverse, a three-dimensional digital reality envisioned by Meta, Mark Zuckerberg’s rebranded Facebook company. It has seen a 12-fold rise in consumption since 2020.
Collins Dictionary’s words of the year for 2019 and 2020 were “Climate Strike” and “Lockdown”, respectively.Â
An unexpected call for NFT
NFT is a “unique digital certificate, registered in a blockchain, that is used to record ownership of an asset such as an artwork or a collectible,” according to Collins. Moreover, it’s classified as an “asset whose ownership is recorded using a non-fungible token.”
Alex Beecroft, managing director of Collins Learning, described the ubiquitous adoption of the term as “unusual,” saying, “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,” he added.
According to the ABC News website, the majority of the people didn’t even know of an NFT until recently. It was when the sales exploded, propelled in part by artist Beeple’s $70 million auctions of a digital collage NFT in March. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s first tweet sold for $2.9 million, and electronic singer Grimes’ digital art was worth $6 million.
What is NFT?
An NFT is a tradable digital asset that is one-of-a-kind since no two NFTs are the same. The majority of NFTs are digital art that ardent enthusiasts generally purchase. Music, GIFs, video game skins, films, and even tweets are among them.
NFTs, live on the blockchain, which is the framework for creating and recording cryptocurrency interactions.
Additional wordsÂ
In addition, several other terms have made their way into Collins’ list, including Cheugy, Climate anxiety, Crypto, Double-vaxxed, Hybrid working, Metaverse, Neopronoun, Pingdemic and Regencycore.
Check out the complete list.
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