Question of the Day #558

"Svaha has benefited from strong word of mouth and enthusiastic uptake in the world of fan culture and conventions, which is increasingly trending female."

From the 7th paragraph of this article at Forbes.

上記の文で、word of mouthの意味は？
In the sentence above, what does "word of mouth" mean?

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Write your answer in the Comments.

明日、ここに答えを書きます。
I will add the answer and other remarks here tomorrow.

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解答

意味：
英辞郎によると、

口づて、口伝え◆【略】WOM

となっていますが、もっと簡単に言えば「口コミ」です。
ただし、形容詞としても使います。

Answer

According to Merriam-Webster:

1. orally communicated
   also: generated from or reliant on oral publicity
2. oral communication

Etymology/語源

Merriam-Websterによると、

形容詞は、1817年から。
名詞は、15世紀から。

According to Merriam-Webster:

First Known Use of word-of-mouth:
Adjective
1817

Noun phrase
15th century

Examples

• a word-of-mouth business
• The story has been passed down by word of mouth.
• So the story passed by word of mouth, and it wasn't written down or reported, and some people said that Harry had put it all behind him. Chuck Logan VAPOR TRAIL (2003)
• Good will was so important to the small businessman, especially the one who had to rely on word-of-mouth advertising. Smith, Evelyn E
• We get most of our work through word-of-mouth recommendations.

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