The people have spoken: The word of 2016 has been crowned.

Ah, 2016. The year of Donald Trump, the return of Pauline Hanson, celebrity deaths in droves, a new Star Wars installment and the rise of one beloved late-night street food which, as of Wednesday, has made its way into the 2016 edition of the Macquarie Dictionary.

Yes, friends, the halal snack pack is officially here to stay.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock with no internet connection for the past year, there’s a good chance you’ve seen the Halal Snack Pack popping up in conversation, news feeds, and maybe even in front of you after a couple of beers.

A combination of hot chips, cheese, a kebab meat of your choice and three sauces all served up in a true-blue styrofoam box - there's a lot to love about the humble HSP. So much so, that it's now being immortalised in print.

Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald following the announcement, Macquarie committee said,  "The significance of halal snack pack is that it tells us about something once confined largely to the Muslim community that is now surfacing throughout the broader Australian community."

First brought to the broader community thanks to Senator Sam Dastyari - who invited One Nation leader Pauline Hanson to join him in Western Sydney and share a snack pack - it didn't take long for the meal to take off and become a cult favourite, with some stores selling as many as 400 packs a night.

In honour of the momentous occasion, the Dictionary's editor, Susan Butler experienced her first HSP this week, saying, "I think it is the duty of lexicographers to, as much as is humanly possible, eat the food items that they put in the dictionary," adding, "How can you write the definition of HSP with enthusiasm if you have never sampled it? So today I ate my first HSP."

Butler said, "I can understand why this dish has become the fast food item of the day. It is carbo‐loaded, calorific sinfulness. Once started on it, you cannot stop."

Never a truer word... or collection of words... has been spoken, Butler.

Runner-up words of the year included "fake news" and "alt-right."

Sorry kids, better luck next year.

Still not sure what an HSP is? Read our explainer here.