Face With Tears of Joy Emoji Is Oxford Dictionaries' Word of the Year

Our changing linguistic habits that now include the aggressive use of emojis - emoticon characters - in day-to-day conversations on instant messaging clients and social media platforms, have earned the characters a special place in the Oxford Dictionaries.

The organisation, run by Oxford English Press at the University of Oxford, has named 'Face with Tears of Joy' emoji as the word of the year for 2015.

In case you're wondering, of course the 'Face with Tears of Joy' emoji isn't a word, but a pictograph, something that Oxford Dictionaries admits. But regardless, it reflects "the ethos, mood, and preoccupations of 2015," the organisation noted. Besides, the teary eyed pictograph of a face bursting with laughter has been insanely popular on social media this year.

"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," the team wrote in a blogpost. "Even Hillary Clinton solicited feedback in the form of emojis, and 😂 has had notable use from celebrities and brands alongside everyone else - and even appeared as the caption to the Vine which apparently kicked off the popularity of the term on fleek, which appears on our WOTY shortlist."

The whole debate around ads on publishing networks, and use of ad blocking tools that enable users to strip down annoying elements from a Web page popularised the word "ad blocker" Other words that contended with the Face with Tears of Joy emoji for the word of the year were 'refugee,' 'Dark Web' and 'lumbersexual,' among others.