It’s official!

The Oxford English Dictionary has crowned “VAX” as its 2021 word of the year, partly because its usage surged dramatically this year and partly because of an explosion of Covid-related wordplay.

Oxford says the word first appeared in the language in the 1980s and remained fairly uncommon till last year.

Oxford’s senior editor for new words, Fiona McPherson, calls “Vax” a short, punchy, attention-grabbing word which can be used in all sorts of combinations to make new words like “anti-vax.” “vaxxed,” “anti-vaxxer,” “vaxinista” and “vaxxie” (that’s the picture you take of yourself getting vaccinated).