For the first time in Oxford’s history, its highest honor is a pictograph, which reflects the sharp increase in popularity of emoji across the world in 2015.
Every year, the Oxford Dictionaries team reviews candidates for word of the year and then debates their merits, eventually choosing one that captures the ethos, mood, or preoccupations of that particular year.
The team wrote in a blogpost: “Emojis are no longer the preserve of texting teens – instead, they have been embraced as a nuanced form of expression, and one which can cross language barriers.
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“Even Hillary Clinton solicited feedback in the form of emojis, and