Staycation, Tweetup and Jeggings are some of the Words of the Year 2009, according to a list commissioned by the Oxford University Press.
The list was compiled by the dictionary expert Susie Dent, who scanned the Oxford English Corpus, a two billion word database.
Tweetup, a meeting organised through Twitter; Hashtag, a hash sign added to a word that enables Twitter users to search for Tweets; and Paywall, a way of blocking access to a part of the website, were some of the words derived from new technologies.
On the list there is also an array of business-related words. The recently fashionable minute mentoring, where professionals are advised by mentors in a speed-dating form, was on the list as well as freemium – a business model in which basic services are free, but users pay for extra features.
In November, the Oxford American Dictionary chose Unfriend as its Word of the Year 2009.
