Podcast makes Word of the Year

The word 'Podcast' is 2005's Word Of The Year, according to the Editors of the New Oxford American Dictionary

7 December 2005 10:39 GMT / By Stuart Miles

The word 'Podcast' is 2005's Word Of The Year, according to the editors of the New Oxford American Dictionary.

Defined as "a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program, made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal audio player", 'podcast' will be added to the next online update of the dictionary in early-2006.

"Podcast was considered for inclusion last year, but we found that not enough people were using it, or were even familiar with the concept", said Erin McKean, the dictionary's Editor-in-Chief said in a statement.

"This year it's a completely different story. The word has finally caught up with the rest of the iPod phenomenon".

Among the words that did not make it were two other terms popular in technology circles.

The first was lifehack, which refers to a more efficient way of completing an everyday task.

While the other was rootkit, defined as software installed on a computer by someone other than the owner, intended to conceal other programs or processes, files or system data.

The word was made famous last month through Sony BMG's efforts to include a rootkit on some its music CDs to stop software piracy.

Other words that did not make it include bird flu, su doku and trans fat.