Last week, the annual 新語・流行語大賞 (Shingo, Ryūkōgo Taishō, New Words and Buzzwords Awards) were announced and the outcome was one you’d never have predicted in January.

去年は「One Team」が流行語大賞だったので、今年はオリンピック関連の言葉の入選が期待されたが、結局コロナ関係の言葉がトップ10の半数以上を占めた (Kyonen wa “wan chīmu” ga ryūkōgo taishō datta node, kotoshi wa orinpikku kanren no kotoba no nyūsen ga kitai sareta ga, kekkyoku korona kankei no kotoba ga toppu ten no hansū ijō o shimeta, Last year, “One Team” won the top prize for buzzwords, and this year it was expected that Olympics-related words would be chosen, but in the end coronavirus-related words comprise more than half of the top 10).

A lot of us are using many 新語 (shingo, new words) because of the pandemic. While they weren’t recognized in the awards, 感染拡大 (kansen kakudai, spread of infection) 自粛 (jishuku, self-restraint) and 新型コロナウイルス (shingata koronauirusu, novel coronavirus) have all been a part of our conversations at one point.