If it was the referendum heard ‘round the world, then there’s no better counter than internet search to measure the immense interest in “Brexit” — the U.K.’s landmark decision to sever ties with the European Union.

The portmanteau — a combination of “Britain” and “exit” to reflect the nature of the U.K.’s June 23 referendum to secede after its decades-long EU membership — was so rabidly searched on Alphabet’s Google Inc. GOOGL, -2.41% that it even outstripped trawling for “porn” in the 24-hour period around the vote.