Cambridge Dictionary announces space inspired Word of the Year

Cambridge Dictionary has revealed the Word of the Year for 2021.

Editors of the dictionary cited that the word chosen - 'perseverance' - relates to global efforts to help Nasa's mission to the planet Mars for its selection.

Meaning "a continued effort to do or achieve something, even when this is difficult or takes a long time", the word has been searched more than 243,000 times on Cambridge Dictionary's website in the past year.

Requests for the word's meaning reached its peak on February 18th when the Perseverance Rover descended onto Mars, where searches for the word totalled 30,487 on that day alone.

However, despite the astronomical motif behind its selection, 'perseverance' has been used to describe much of the public's lives over the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cambridge Dictionary Publishing Manager, Wendalyn Nichols, said: "Just as it takes perseverance to land a rover on Mars, it takes perseverance to face the challenges and disruption to our lives from Covid-19, climate disasters, political instability and conflict.

"We appreciated that connection, and we think Cambridge Dictionary users do, too."

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