The term social distancing was added in 2020 to dictionaries such as Merriam-Webster and Oxford English. This practice of maintaining a physical distance of six feet or more from other people during an outbreak of contagious disease has a long history. In the 14th century during the Black Death, ships that arrived in Venice had to remain quarantined off the shores to reduce the transmission of infection. This may be the earliest recording of such a measure, but accounts of people with leprosy being evicted from villages have been noted in the Bible.