Image: Oxford Dictionaries
The Oxford Dictionaries’ Word of the Year 2015 is…
That’s right – for the first time ever, the Oxford Dictionaries’ Word of the Year is a pictograph: ?, officially called the ‘Face with Tears of Joy’ emoji, though you may know it by other names. There were other strong contenders from a range of fields, outlined below, but ? was chosen as the ‘word’ that best reflected the ethos, mood, and preoccupations of 2015.
Why was this chosen?
As Oxford Dictionaries explains, Emojis (the plural can be either emoji or emojis) have been around since the late 1990s, but 2015 saw their use, and use of the word emoji, increase hugely.
? was chosen because it was the most used emoji globally in 2015, making up 20% of all the emojis used in the UK in 2015, and 17% of those in the US: a sharp rise from 4% and 9% respectively in 2014.
The word emoji has seen a similar surge: although it has been found in English since 1997, usage more than tripled in 2015 over the previous year.
Graph by Oxford Dictionaries
A brief history of emoji
An emoji is ‘a small digital image or icon used to express an idea or emotion in electronic communication’. The term itself is a loanword from Japanese, and comes from e ‘picture’ + moji ‘letter, character’. The similarity to the English word emoticon has helped its memorability and rise in use.
Emojis are no longer the preserve of texting teens – instead, they have been embraced as a nuanced form of expression, and one which can cross language barriers. Even Hillary Clinton solicited feedback in the form of emojis, and ? has had notable use from celebrities and brands alongside everyone else.
The Word of the Year shortlist
What other words did Oxford Dictionaries consider, you ask?
- Ad blocker, noun: A piece of software designed to prevent advertisements from appearing on a web page.
- Brexit, noun: A term for the potential or hypothetical departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union, from British + exit.
- Dark Web, noun: The part of the World Wide Web that is only accessible by means of special software, allowing users and website operators to remain anonymous or untraceable.
- On fleek, adjectival phrase: Extremely good, attractive, or stylish.
- Lumbersexual, noun: A young urban man who cultivates an appearance and style of dress (typified by a beard and check shirt) suggestive of a rugged outdoor lifestyle.
- Refugee, noun: A person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster.
- Sharing economy, noun: An economic system in which assets or services are shared between private individuals, either for free or for a fee, typically by means of the Internet.
- They (singular), pronoun: Used to refer to a person of unspecified sex.
My money would have been on that last one, mind you…
Read the full post on Oxford Dictionaries, and learn more about the Word of the Year shortlist, including the reasons they were chosen.
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Interesting piece, Nicholas. Thanks for sharing. That wouldn’t have been my guess for the word of the year either. 🙂 — Suzanne
Sorry, but I don’t think an emoji is a word. I can go with the rest of them, but nope, not the emoji.
Lol – yes, that seems to be a common reaction to the news. I did say it was a surprise decision, didn’t I? 😀
They? Really? 😀 😀 😀 Is that an offshoot of the royal ‘We?’ 😛
I actually love using “they” instead of the rather more awkward “s/he” or other similar constructs. Incidentally, “they” has been used in this way for at least a century.
We have lumbersexuals out here in Oregon (logger country). I didn’t realize the flannel-shirt-long-beard look had grown so popular! And Yes!, that last one is incredibly handy – it’s about time!
Wait, “refugee” isn’t an official word? That seems like an oversight …
Wait I take it back, it’s a word but not the “word of the year”. LOL. I’m not sure how I feel about an emoji being the word of the year. I like that the Oxford Dictionary is trying to keep up with the times, I guess … but I don’t particularly think of emojis as words. Hmm …
Next year’s word can be found in a cave near us.
Well if pictures are allowed then I vote for a certain gesture to win a special award since it’s been used consistently for decades. At least in New York City. I think my big issue with this is that it’s really stretching the term ‘word’ here. Though I admit ‘on fleek’ would have been worse. I still can’t figure out how that one got any traction. Sounds like you’re talking about getting on a Muppet.
Lol – yes, that would be worse 😀
I fear for next year.
Now I know that I really am getting too old for all of this…Perhaps I should use an emoji to illustrate my despair, but I don’t even know how to add them to a comment.
Best wishes, Pete.
Lol – yes, I know what you mean 😀
Same here! ‘They?’ What were ‘they’ thinking?!?!;) Gret post:)
Sorry, I wasn’t being funny or ironic spelling ‘great’ wrong in a post on Oxford words, just had a one and a half year old decide he liked what I was doing!;)
Mine is 5 months old and I already have that problem 😀
Lol – I know 😀
And I have all Emojis in the world! LOL
(❁´◡`❁) Yay!
Lol 😀
I agree with you: “they” seems more apt. An emoji is something other than a word; now, if the word of the year was “emoji,” that would be OK.
You got me there! 🙂