The word of 2014 is not an actual word.

The word of 2014 has been announced.  Except, it’s not even a word. It’s an emoji.

High ten for english skillz

Yep. In news that Julie Bishop would give the thumbs up to, the emoji heart is the top global word for 2014.

Julie Bishop gets emojional on twitter.  

Media company Global Language Monitor has unveiled the most commonly used words, phrases and names of the year, and it seems our fave little coloured heart appeared billions of times a day around the world, across languages and cultures.

Yup, 2014’s most-popular. 

It’s the 15th year of the award, and the first time ever that an emoji has won, just beating out ‘#’ for the title.

“Word” of The Year? Mkay. 

According to the analysts, the alphabet is now “expanding beyond letters”.

President and Chief Word Analyst of the Global Language Monitor, Paul JJ Payack, says the English Language is undergoing a remarkable transformation unlike any in its 1400 year history.

“Not only is the English language adding a new word every 98 minutes, but it is also expanding the basis of word creation,” he says,.

“The alphabet, itself, is now expanding beyond letters to numbers + (emoticons) diacritical marks + emoji (picture words)”.

Remember the act of writing actual words? #neverforget

There are about a thousand emoji characters now officially recognised by Unicode Consortium, the official keepers of coding that forms the basis of the Internet.  They regularly review new suggestions with the next 37 or so being finalised for June 2015.  Then the new emoji can be embedded in any number of devices for any number of languages.

The list is comprised through computerised algorithms that analyse the use of English words across the Internet, the company says.

The Top Words of 2014: via Global Language Monitor

1. The Heart ♥ Emoji (for love) —  The Heart ♥ Emoji (for love) is the Top Word of 2014.  Each emoji represents an emotion, expression, or state of mind, or a person, place or thing.
2. Hashtag  — The re-invented pound-sign becomes evermore powerful.
3. Vape  — Smoking an electronic or e-cigarette, shorthand for vaporise, or vaping.  Vapers are banned from indoor vaping in New York and other locales.
4. Blood Moon — Four total eclipses of the moon in eighteen-month span.  Some Christians see it as the presaging a “lunar apocalypse”.
5. Nano — From Greek for dwarf, small; now 1 billionth of a meter, and any number of words surrounding nano technology.
6. Photo Bomb — Breaking into a ‘pre-arranged” photograph without authorisation resulting in often humorous outcomes.
7. Caliphate — Literally, a land ruled by an Islamic Caliph typically governed under Sharia Law.
8. (White) privilege — The alleged advantages of having lighter colored skin in a diverse society.
9. Bae — Term of endearment for one’s object of desire.
10. “Bash” Tag — Using a hashtag to undermine your frenemies.
11. Transparency —  That state of government openness that is apparently unachievable in the Western World.
12. Sustainable — The Jimmy Carter of words; keeps getting stronger since it was WOTY  in 2006.
13. Clickbait — A link  you just have to click on, though its more of a paid-for bait-and-switch.
14. Quindecennial  —  Fifteen year anniversary; 2014 is the quindecinnal of the 21st century.
15. Comet — Comet 67p has a visitor from the Rosetta Spacecraft.

OK is most understood word in the world, again.