Oxford Dictionary released its Word of the Year for 2009 and this year’s winner is one many of us are familiar with: unfriend. unfriend – verb – To remove someone as a ‘friend’ on a social networking site such as Facebook.

“It has both currency and potential longevity,” said Christine Lindberg, Senior Lexicographer for Oxford’s US dictionary program. “In the online social networking context, its meaning is understood, so its adoption as a modern verb form makes this an interesting choice for Word of the Year.”

Other words considered for the Word of the Year honor in the technology category included hashtag, intexticated, netbook, paywall and sexting.