"Binge-watch" has been picked as the 2015 word of the year by Collins English Dictionary, as TV viewing habits have drastically changed people's lifestyle.
Defined as "to watch a large number of television programs (especially all the shows from one series) in succession," as per Collins, use of the word has apparently risen 200 percent since 2014, according to the BBC.
"The rise in usage of 'binge-watch' is clearly linked to the biggest sea change in our viewing habits since the advent of the video recorder nearly 40 years ago," said Collins Language Content Head Helen Newstead. "It's not uncommon for viewers to binge-watch a whole season of programs such as 'House of Cards' or 'Breaking Bad' in just a couple of evenings - something that, in the past, would have taken months - then discuss their binge-watching on social media."
However, binge-watch is not an entirely new word. "It's actually been around since the 1990s, and binge is an old Lincolnshire dialect word that made its way into common English in the 19th century," said Collins Learning publisher Elaine Higgleton, via CNN. Yet the word has "taken off exponentially as a term people are using every day," she added.
Next to binge-watch, the word "transgender" has been picked as the second most popular word of the year. "It's probably that transgender figures have had a much higher profile in the media - you only have to think of people like Caitlyn Jenner and Laverne Cox and programs like 'Orange is the New Black,'" said Higgleton.
Also on the list of popularly used words this year include "clean eating," which refers to a diet of natural food, "dadbod" to denote a man's untoned but attractive body, and "manspreading" to refer to the way men sit on public transpors, according to Reuters.
Collins picked the words based on its lexicographers' monitoring of newspapers, websites, books, magazines and world trend tracking. Last year's most popular word was "photobomb," according to the CNN report.
