'Selfie' named by Oxford Dictionaries as word of 2013

"Selfie" has been named as word of the year by Oxford Dictionaries, BBC reported.The word has evolved from a niche social media tag into a mainstream term for a self-portrait photograph, the editors said.Research suggested its frequency in the English language had increased by 17,000% in the last year, they added.Other shortlisted words included "twerk" - a raunchy dance move performed by Miley Cyrus - and "binge-watch" - meaning watching lots of TV."Schmeat", meaning a form of meat synthetically produced from biological tissue, was also a contender.'Inventiveness'The word of the year award celebrates the inventiveness of English speakers when confronted with social, political or technological change.In 2004, the word of the year was "chav", in 2008 it was credit crunch and last year it was "omnishambles".To qualify, a word need not have been coined within the past 12 months, but it does need to have become prominent or notable in that time.Selfie is defined by Oxford Dictionaries as "a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website".Its increase in use is calculated by Oxford Dictionaries using a research programme that collects around 150 million English words currently in use from around the web each month.ANN.Az