Don’t Worry, You Can Still Bet on the 2020 Word of the Year – “COVID-19” Given Best Odds

• The odds are up for the 2020 Merriam-Webster Publishing World of the Year
• COVID-19 is the current favorite but coronavirus could be the better bet
• See the full list of words and odds you can bet for this prop

If you’ve been looking to find something to bet on almost on major sports on pause, don’t worry: you can still bet on the 2020 Word of the Year.

To no one’s surprise, the word that’s ruined many people’s 2020 so far is the favorite to win Word of the Year.

Is COVID-19 the only bet or is there value with a different contender?

2020 Word of the Year Odds

Odds taken Apr. 8th

COVID-19 Odds-On Favorite

It’s not exactly a big shock to anyone that COVID-19 is the favorite to win the Merriam-Webster Publishing World of the Year. COVID-19 is the name of the virus causing the pandemic, which has now spread around the globe and forced the majority of the world’s population into a lockdown.

This is NY City the #2 train, Brooklyn to Manhattan (taken by Ms N. Stevens)…I cannot even list the problems that I see with this image in these days of #COVID19 and #SocialDistancing pic.twitter.com/QRQPXk5uTE

— Iannis Aifantis (@iannisaifantis1) April 8, 2020

What’s interesting is that COVID-19 is the technical term for the coronavirus of 2019. The World Health Organization gave it this specific name. However, many people use the term ‘coronavirus’ instead, so it makes you wonder whether the better bet is coronavirus or COVID-19.

Value With Coronavirus?

Coming in right behind COVID-19 is ‘coronavirus’, which might actually be the better bet. According to Google Trends, the term has had way more search traffic than COVID-19. That’s because it gets used far more often on television broadcasts, news stories and even by doctors.

NYPD are using @iamcardib Coronavirus voice and laugh to inform residents about social distancing. ?
pic.twitter.com/vcOTZbMYOU

— Cardi B Fan Team (@CardiBTeam) April 8, 2020

Technically speaking, there are many strains of coronaviruses and the version that we’re currently dealing with is just a new (or novel) one. However, the term coronavirus is not a new word in and of itself. For a long period of time, this pandemic was referred to as coronavirus until the COVID-19 was given to it, so that’s why ‘coronavirus’ had such a head start.

The other factor here is that COVID-19 is really feels like medical jargon. In social circles and on social media, people have been referring to it as the coronavirus or even ‘the Rona’ for short. Given the Google Trends and the usage in day-to-day life, coronavirus feels like it could be the better bet.

Any Non-Pandemic Related Words?

There are a number of contenders on the board related to the coronavirus, including social distancing, covidiot and self-quarantine, but these are all basically subsets from the virus itself. COVID-19 or coronavirus is the root of the tree here; the rest of the options are merely branches.

With that in mind, I wouldn’t be looking to bet any of the others. COVID-19 is favored but I wouldn’t be laying juice with this type of a prop – especially since coronavirus probably has an equal, if not better, chance of winning here. I’d bet coronavirus as it should win what I see is a two-horse race.