Words related to vaccines have spiked in frequency in 2021 due to Covid, with double-vaxxed, unvaxxed and anti-vaxxer all seeing a surge in use.Vax and vaxx are both accepted spellings but the form with one x is more common.
Vax, was first recorded in English in 1799, while its derivatives vaccinate and vaccination both first appear in 1800. All of these words ultimately come from the Latin word vacca, which means cow. According to the OED, this is due to English physician and scientist Edward Jenner's pioneering work on vaccination against smallpox using cowpox - a mild infection that occurs in cows - in the late 1790s and early 1800s.
Oxford also recognised a host of other new words including lockdown, bushfires and Covid-19, as well as Black Lives Matter, WFH [working from home], keyworkers and furlough.
Previous words of the year include: Selfie, Geek, Vape, Photobomb. Emoji tears of joy, Binge-watch, post truth, Brexit,Youth quake, Fake News, Single-use, Toxic, Climate emergency and Lockdown