Oxford Dictionaries, considered the benchmark in how far the English language has come, has announced on Tuesday that the emoji, commonly known as 'Face with Tears of Joy', is its "Word" of the Year for 2015.

The Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year is a word or expression chosen to reflect the passing year in language. 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. This year, instead of choosing a traditional word, Oxford Dictionaries has chosen a pictograph, the 'Face with Tears of Joy' emoji, to reflect the sharp increase in popularity of emoji across the world in 2015.

Although emoji have been a staple of texting teens for some time, emoji culture exploded into the global mainstream over the past year. Whether it was Hillary Clinton soliciting feedback in emoji or on-going debates about the skin tone of smiley faces, emoji have come to embody a core aspect of living in a digital world that is visually driven, emotionally expressive, and obsessively immediate.

Casper Grathwohl, president of Oxford Dictionaries, says: "You can see how traditional alphabet scripts have been struggling to meet the rapid-fire, visually focused demands of 21st Century communication. It's not surprising that a pictographic script like emoji has stepped in to fill those gaps—it's flexible, immediate, and infuses tone beautifully. As a result emojis are becoming an increasingly rich form of communication, one that transcends linguistic borders. When Andy Murray tweeted out his wedding itinerary entirely in emoji, for example, he shared a subtle mix of his feelings about the day directly with fans around the world. It was highly effective in expressing his emotions."