The 2014 Word of the Year Committee, Anne Bell, John Birmingham, Susan Butler, VC Michael Spence and Catriona Menzies-Pike

The 2014 Word of the Year Committee, Anne Bell, John Birmingham, Susan Butler, VC Michael Spence and Catriona Menzies-Pike

THE Macquarie Dictionary has announced the Word of the Year 2014, with an honourable mention going to the selfie stick.

The word share plate won the People's Choice award while the word mansplain won the Committee's Choice Word of the Year 2014.

Both winners were chosen from the list of new words included in the annual update of the Macquarie Dictionary Online.

People's Choice

Word: share plate

noun a serving in a restaurant designed as multiple small portions so that several diners can share the same dish.

Committee's Choice

Word: mansplain

verb (t) Colloquial (humorous) (of a man) to explain (something) to a woman, in a way that is patronising because it assumes that a woman will be ignorant of the subject matter.

[MAN + (EX)PLAIN with s inserted to create a pronunciation link with e x plain]

Honourable Mentions

binge watching

noun the practice of viewing a favourite television series, seeing many episodes in one extended sitting.

'Our viewing habits are changing. We can watch whatever we want to watch for as long as we want to watch it. So what do we do? We binge.' - SUSAN BUTLER, EDITOR

bamboo ceiling

noun a barrier created by prejudice which hampers the progress of Asian Australians to positions of leadership in government and business institutions.

lifehacking

noun the application of strategies or shortcuts used to simplify or improve any aspect of one's life.

'It seems to have popular appeal and to belong to a set of ideas about how we can make our complicated lives easier. It belongs with decluttering and asking ourselves if our clothes give us joy or not, and, if not, relegating them to the bin.' - SUSAN BUTLER, EDITOR

selfie stick

noun a device which comprises an extendible rod with a flexible grip head for holding a camera, smart phone, etc., allowing the user to take a selfie from an appropriate distance and include more people in the frame, the camera being activated by a remote control or set to operate by a timer.

'A dishonourable mention to the selfie stick for being inescapable.' - WOTY COMMITTEE