《中英對照讀新聞》Collins Dictionary names ‘Brexit’ word of 2016 柯林斯字典將「英國脫歐」列為2016年度單字

◎陳正健

’Brexit’ has been named the word of the year by Collins Dictionary. The first recorded usage of the word arrived in 2013 , but this year saw a 3,400% rise.

「英國脫歐」已被柯林斯字典命名為年度單字。這個字彙的首次使用紀錄出現在2013年，但在今年的使用量增加了3400%。

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"Brexit is arguably politics’ most important contribution to the English language in over 40 years since the Watergate scandal gave commentators and comedians the suffix ’-gate’ to make any incident or scandal more compelling." Helen Newstead, head of language content at Collins said.

柯林斯語言內容總管海倫．紐斯泰德表示：「英國脫歐按理說是過去40年來，政治界對英語字典的最重要貢獻，因為水門案醜聞給予評論家和喜劇演員『門』的字根，以令任何事件或醜聞更引人注目。」

’Brexit’ has also been adapted to describe events coming to an end, such as ’Mexit’ for footballer Lionel Messi’s retirement and “Bradxit” for the end of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s marriage

「英國脫歐」也被改寫以形容事件的結束，例如「Mexit」意指足球員利昂內爾．梅西的退休，以及「Bradxit」意指安潔莉娜裘莉和布萊德彼特的婚姻告終。

Other contenders for Collins’s word of the year included Trumpism. “Trump is not the first politician to have had his name co-opted by language：‘Thatcherism’ and ‘Reaganomics’, for example,” said Newstead. “However, the longevity of Trumpism as a word may depend on his success in the forthcoming election.”

柯林斯年度字彙的其他競爭者還包括「川普主義」。「川普並非第一個政治人物的名字被語言選用：前例有柴契爾主義和雷根經濟學。」紐斯泰德指出：「不過，川普主義身為單字的壽命長度，可能得仰賴他在即將到來的選舉中獲勝。」

新聞辭典

commentator：名詞，評論員，注釋者。例句：Most commentators criticized globalisation. （多數評論員痛批全球化。）

compelling：形容詞，引人注目的，吸引興趣的。例句：She was really a compelling woman.（她真是一個引人注目的女生。）

forthcoming：形容詞，即將到來的，即將出現的。例句：The forthcoming week will be busy.（即將到來的一週將會很忙碌。）