RALEIGH, N.C. – For linguists like David Mora-Marin, this year's pandemic turned into an experiment in real time.

Mora-Marin, a professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, studies Central American languages. When the pandemic began, he was teaching a class on how ancient languages changed over time. The class didn’t lend itself well to the remote learning environment. To keep his students involved, he asked them to track linguistic changes stemming from coronavirus events.

“It actually got them very engaged,” he said. “It became very personal for them.”

The results were interesting, to say the least. Mora-Marin's students caught more than 100 new or repurposed phrases in the United States alone, not counting social media hashtags.

Some words simply did not exist prior to March. As an example, Mora-Marin said English speakers coined the term “coronacation” to describe an extended period at home due to workplace closures. The term blends the words coronavirus and vacation.

Then there are the words that have the same meaning, but are now used much more broadly. Epidemiologists have used the word “coronavirus” for decades to describe a family of viruses. The name comes from the way the viruses appeared on early electron microscopes and is a result of the way their receptors are arranged around their protein shells. Some versions of the common cold are caused by coronaviruses, as are SARS and COVID-19. Until this year, the word “coronavirus” was not widely used outside a medical setting. Similarly, the acronym PPE, for personal protective equipment, expanded beyond its traditional home in the medical and emergency response communities into the public lexicon.

Finally, there are words that were widely used prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, but acquired new meanings. Mora-Marin said the word “lockdown” is a prime example. The word has historically been used to describe security measures at a building, such as a prison. This year, people extended its use metaphorically to describe restrictions put in place by officials meant to limit COVID-19's spread.

In some cases, the new terms took on a political bend. Mora-Marin said people in a given society continually negotiate what a word means.

“Language is not something we take at face value but instead we argue about it, we negotiate it, and we are always battling with what it means,” he said.

As an example, Mora-Marin noted the term “social distancing” has been taken by many to exclude members of one's immediate family or close social circle. In fact, health officials have urged people to maintain a distance of at least six feet from anyone with whom they do not live, regardless of their relationship. Some people have taken “COVID-19” to mean the ongoing pandemic stems from the 19th such disease. That is false. The term is an acronym for coronavirus disease 2019.