The Oxford Dictionary's Word Of The Year Isn't A Word At All

The word of the year isn't actually a word at all...

The crying-from-laughter emoji — or the Face with Tears of Joy emoji as it's officially known — is the Oxford English Dictionary's word of the year for 2015.

According to the Oxford Dictionary's website, the ToJ is an emoji which "best reflected the ethos, mood, and preoccupations of 2015".

The emoji beat out some stiff competition for 'word of the year', with the likes of "ad blocker", "refugee," and "lumbersexual" all contenders.

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The 2015 word of the year shortlist. Photo: The Oxford English Dictionary

While emojis have been around since the late 90s, 2015 saw a significant increase in both their use, and use of the word emoji - and the ToJ one was chosen because it was the most used emoji globally in 2015 according to SwiftKey.

"You can see how traditional alphabet scripts have been struggling to meet the rapid-fire, visually focused demands of 21st Century communication," says Casper Grathwohl, President of Oxford Dictionaries.

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"It’s not surprising that a pictographic script like emoji has stepped in to fill those gaps—it’s flexible, immediate, and infuses tone beautifully. As a result emoji are becoming an increasingly rich form of communication, one that transcends linguistic borders. When Andy Murray tweeted out his wedding itinerary entirely in emoji, for example, he shared a subtle mix of his feelings about the day directly with fans around the world. It was highly effective in expressing his emotions."

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