The Most Popular Word of 2014: Heart Emoji

Global Language Monitor‘s annual survey of the English language has determined that the heart (and love) emoticon is in fact the “Top Word of 2014.” Last year’s winning entry is the first in the survey’s 15 years that an ideograph has been bestowed the high honor of “Word of the Year.” Supporting research confirmed that the heart (and love) emoji, and similar variations are sent in billions of messages spanning across the world each day. “Hashtag,” “photo bomb” and “bae” have also earned spots in the published top 15 list. In relating news, the phrase “hands up, don’t shoot” has been determined to be the “Top Phrase of 2014,” and “Ebola” is the “Top Name of 2014.”