The Impact of Coronavirus on English Word-stock

Abstract

In December 2019, the news of the coronavirus outbreak spread worldwide for the first time. At present, this historical event has already influenced merely all aspects of life. The language is one of the first that reflected the massive events occurring throughout the world.

In the frame of this article, an attempt is made, firstly, to figure out dozens of new words, expressions and new definitions emerged in English due to global changes. Secondly, are considered the semantic changes some words have undergone as a result of extralinguistic processes i.e., narrowing of meaning, semantic broadening, etc. Thirdly, are emphasized the main word-formation means of coining new words and expressions: suffixation, compounding, abbreviation, etc.