WASHINGTON 鈥� The Oxford Dictionaries had no words to describe this year’s word of the year: It聽 that the emoji officially known as the 鈥淔ace with Tears of Joy鈥� was the 鈥渨ord鈥� that 鈥渂est reflected the ethos, mood, and preoccupations of 2015.鈥�
The company says it鈥檚 because that particular emoji, and emojis in general, have exploded in popularity this year: 20 percent of all emojis used in the U.K., and 17 percent in the U.S., were the face with tears, up from 4 and 9 percent in 2014 respectively. And the use of the word 鈥渆moji鈥� more than tripled in 2015 over 2014, the company says.
The shortlist for word of the year included 鈥渟haring economy,鈥� 鈥渢hey鈥� (in its sense of referring to someone of unspecified sex), 鈥渙n fleek,鈥� 鈥渁d blocker,鈥� 鈥渞efugee,鈥� 鈥淏rexit鈥� (the potential or hypothetical departure of the U.K. from the European Union), 鈥淒ark Web鈥� and 鈥渓umbersexual鈥� (an adherent of the recently ubiquitous beard-and-checked-shirt look).
