According to the Collins Dictionary, NFTs were crowned as the most important word of 2021. According to the UK-based dictionary, “NFT” was the most important word of 2021. There’s no denying that the NFT phenomenon grew immensely this year, and not even Ethereum gas fees and environmental FUD could deter its trajectory. Congratulations to all the artists and businessmen that managed to benefit from the growth, and take Collins Dictionary’s acknowledgment as if it was yours.
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What does Collins Dictionary mean by NFT definition?
TheThe Word of The Year PageCollins gives a clear and simple definition.
“‘NFT’, the abbreviation of ‘non-fungible token’, the unique digital identifier that records ownership of a digital asset which has entered the mainstream and seen millions spent on the most sought-after images and videos, has been named Collins Word of the Year 2021.
It is one of three tech-based words to make Collins’ longer list of ten words of the year, which includes seven words brand new to CollinsDictionary.com.”
The other tech-based words were “crypto” and “metaverse,” so you know NFT had some fierce competition in 2021. The abbreviation of “cryptocurrency” seems like a bigger and wider concept. And it might’ve been even more everpresent than “NFT.” However, it didn’t have the novel factor. On the other hand, “metaverse” did have the novel factor but it came too late into the race. When facebook announced that the company was changing its name to “meta,” it was already too late. Mark Zuckerberg commanded headlines with those clumsy and cringy videos, but it didn’t help. NFTs were already the winners of the year.
Digging deeper into NFTs, the Collins Dictionary’s blogThe concept was further developed and an example has been provided:
“Unique” is important here — it’s a one-off, not “fungible” or replaceable by any other piece of data. And what’s really captured the public’s imagination around NFTs is the use of this technology to sell art. For example, the rights to a work by the surrealist digital artist Beeple sold at Christie’s in March for $69m. Called EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000 DAYS, it was a collage of all the images he’d created since he committed in 2007 to making one every day.”
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About Collins Dictionary and its WOTY
This publication is based in the UK. It all goes back:
“Collins dictionary publishing began in 1824, with the publication of Donnegan’s Greek and English Lexicon in partnership with Smith Elder. Collins Illustrated Dictionaries’ first volume was published 1840. This book came along with the Sixpenny Pocket Pronouncing Dictionary. The latter went on to sell over 1,000,000 copies. 20 years later and with the addition of steam presses, Collins could publish dictionaries in all sizes, prices and bindings.”
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Since 1990, the organization has declared a Word Of The Year. It’s a newer phenomenon so, from the beginning, there’s a strong link to technology. In 1993, the WOTY was “information superhighway”; it was “cyber” in 94, and “web” in 95. When it came to 1997 it was “millennium bug,” and it was the prefix “e-” in 98. Of course, it was “Y2K” in 99. Collins Dictionary recently focuses on gender identity and social movements. Last year, of course, it was “Covid,” and in 2021 the tech world took over the throne with “NFT.”
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