Vol. 10 · Portmanteaus ·Contemporary (2000–) ·2020
Covidiot
COVID idiot
- Meaning
- A pejorative for someone flouting pandemic public-health measures.
- Source words
- COVID + idiot
- Coined by
- unknown
- Year
- 2020
Background
Used on English-language social media from early March 2020. Dictionaries flagged the word by April; by 2022 it was already dated, as the behaviours it named had become normalised or disputed rather than outrageous.
Contemporary (2000–)
Faster coinage, faster canonisation. Brexit and podcast both reached the OED within a decade of first use — historically rapid. Social media has made visibility, not invention, the rate-limiting step.
Two words, one coinage.
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