Omicron variant: Why the debate over pronunciation of new COVID-19 strain? 'oh-MY-cron'

While the world is concerned about the arrival of the new COVID variant, Omicron, a debate over its pronunciation appears to have begun. According to the BBC, the new variant is pronounced 'OM-mi-cron.' When pronouncing the Greek term, it put a lot of emphasis on the initial syllable. The 15th letter of the Greek alphabet is omicron. It employs both the capital "O" and lowercase "o" symbols. According to Merriam-Webster, the literal translation in Greek is "small o."

Mary Beard, a well-known historian and classicist, slammed the corporation's emphasis on Twitter on Sunday. "I am NOT a technical ancient linguist. But I do find it a bit odd that the BBC news is saying omicron with the stress on the first syllable," he wrote.

Omicron is a novel COVID-19 strain that has caused concern all around the world. COVID-19 cases of the Omicron variant have already been suspected or confirmed in around 20 countries and territories. While no occurrences of the new variant have been reported in India to date, many people are having difficulty pronouncing the term. B.1.1.529 is the scientific designation for the Omicron variant. Omicron has two alternative English pronunciations, according to the Cambridge Dictionary: For British English, it is, "oh-MY-cron," while for American English, "OH-mi-cron."

WHO omitted two letters from the Greek alphabet to name new Variant

On November 24, the Omicron variant was first identified in South Africa. When the COVID-19 variants became a public health concern, many people began referring to them by the name of the country where they were initially discovered, which led to stigmatisation. The Greek alphabets were chosen to name the variants in order to avoid this. While identifying the new variant, WHO omitted two letters from the Greek alphabet; Nu and Xi. 'Nu' is too readily confused with 'new,' and 'Xi' was not utilised because it is a common last name, the World Health Organization stated in a statement.

Moreover, In India, 8,954 new coronavirus cases were recorded on Wednesday, bringing the total number of COVID-19 cases to 3,45,96,776. After 547 days, there were less than a lakh active COVID-19 cases. The number of active cases has dropped to 99,023. According to the Union Health Ministry, the national COVID-19 recovery rate has risen to 98.36%, the highest since March 2020.

(With inputs from Agencies)

Image: AP