There was a sudden increase in people searching the word 'assiduous' on Sunday afternoon - and it's probably all thanks to Dr Ashley Bloomfield.
New Zealand's Director-General of Health employed the word in a COVID-19 press conference about our newest community case - the country's first in 67 days.
In speaking about the locations visited by the woman, who'd travelled extensively around Northland and northern parts of Auckland over the last 10 days, Dr Bloomfield hailed how scrupulous she'd been in making note of where she'd been.
He said the woman had been "extremely assiduous" in using the COVID Tracer app, and had scanned into 30 locations as she travelled around the upper North Island.
But his compliment clearly bamboozled most Kiwis, who took to Google's search function in their droves to find out just what the word means.
If you're still not sure, here's your answer. Oxford Languages, which Google uses to supply its word definition service, said 'assiduous' is an adjective meaning "showing great care and perseverance".
Google Trends, another service which shows how many times terms have been searched, found that there was a large spike in interest in the word at 4pm on Sunday - the time at which the press conference called.
In addition, Google Trends found that those who'd searched for 'assiduous' had also been searching terms like 'Ministry of Health', 'COVID-19', 'Pullman Hotels' (where the woman had stayed) and 'Mangawhai' (a town she'd visited), further indicating the searches were linked to the press conference.
Dr Bloomfield's use of the word, which Google says was popular in the 1800s but has been reducing in prevalence ever since, drew props from social media users impressed by his wide-ranging vocabulary.
Interest in the word was short-lived, however, and has been petering out ever since - although there was a small spike in interest at 1pm on Monday, when Dr Bloomfield used the word again at another presser.
