IT IS the online version of the "cold shoulder", and a word that will cause lovers of the English language to wince. But it's a term that defines the times we live in.
The
New Oxford American Dictionary
, the default dictionary included on Amazon's Kindle and the Apple iPhone, has chosen the term "unfriend" as its Word of the Year for 2009.
A verb, it means to remove someone as a "friend" on a social networking site, as in: "I decided to unfriend my brother from Facebook last night after we had an argument."
"It has both currency and potential longevity," said Christine Lindberg, senior lexicographer for the Oxford University Press American dictionary programme.
"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."
To spite the naysayers, there is at least one case in which men (and women) of letters will be happy. According to the Scrabble website, "unfriend" is an acceptable word, worth 12 points when played on blank spaces.
A number of technology-related terms were also shortlisted for the Word of the Year, including "hashtag", a # sign added to a word or phrase that enables Twitter users to search for tweets on a particular subject; "intexticated", being distracted due to texting while driving; and "sexting", the sending of explicit SMS messages.
The recession has proven a boon to lexicographers. Growing in popularity are words such as "freemium" - meaning basic services offered free, with premium features charged for - and "funemployed", where someone makes the most of not having a job.
The election of US president Barack Obama last year led to new phrases being shortlisted, including "birther" - a conspiracy theorist who claims Mr Obama was born in Africa and is thus ineligible to be president.
Also in contention were "tramp stamp", a tattoo on a woman's lower back, and "deleb", a dead celebrity.
