"Selfie" was declared "Word of 2013" by Oxford dictionaries after beating words like twerk and binge-watch to win the title.
"Selfie" is a word given to pictures one takes of one's self. Such pictures became increasingly popular first through social networking sites and now are used for application profile pictures and on various other sites. The word has now been declared as the "Word of 2013" by Oxford dictionaries after beating words like twerk and binge-watch to win the title, reveals a blog post.
According to a BBC News report, the frequency of the word used in the English language increased by 17,000 percent over the last one year. Other words shortlisted as contenders for the title include binge watching that means excessive watching of televisions, twerk - a raunchy dance and Schmeat - the name given to a form of meat synthetically produced from biological tissue.
"Using the Oxford Dictionaries language research program, which collects around 150 million words of current English in use each month, we can see a phenomenal upward trend in the use of 'selfie' in 2013, and this helped to cement its selection as Word of the Year," Oxford Dictionaries Editorial Director Judy Pearsall, said in a press release.
The origin of the word has been traced back to 2002 when an Internet user first used it in an Australian forum. However, over the years, the spelling of the word has undergone some changes including replacing the ending "y" with "ie".
"The use of the diminutive -ie suffix is notable, as it helps to turn an essentially narcissistic enterprise into something rather more endearing," Pearsall said in the statement, explaining the spelling change. "Australian English has something of a penchant for -ie words - barbie for barbecue, firie for firefighter, tinnie for a can of beer - so this helps to support the evidence for 'selfie' having originated in Australia."
Previous words of the year have included "unfriend" in 2009, "credit crunch" in 2008, "carbon footprint" in 2007 and "Sudoku" in 2005. Last year, U.S. Oxford Dictionaries chose the Internet-derived term, 'GIF,' as its Word of the Year while the U.K. Oxford Dictionaries named "omnishambles" as the "Word of 2012."
The results are decided by a team of lexicographers, dictionary consultants, editorial, marketing, and publicity staff at Oxford Dictionaries. Software and programs are used to initially determine the top contenders by scanning a database of more than 150 million words that are used each month. This helps determine current trends and the frequency of words used.
