A picture is worth a thousand words—so the Oxford English Dictionary used one to represent the 2015 Word of the Year.

The OED chose the "Face with Tears of Joy" emoji as "the 'word' that best reflected the ethos, mood, and preoccupations of 2015."

While emojis have been around since the late 1990s—when people called them "emoticons" and used punctuation marks to express their feelings—2015 marks a big year for the pictographs. To prove it, the Oxford University Press teamed up with SwiftKey to explore how some of the most popular emoji are used across the world.

Their research showed the "Face with Tears of Joy" (or whatever you might call it) accounted for 17 percent of all emoji use in the U.S. and 20 percent in the U.K. this year. That's a rise from 9 percent and 4 percent, respectively, in 2014. Meanwhile, the word "emoji" has become more prominent, according to the OED, which clocked three times more usage in 2015 over the previous year.

Defined by the Oxford Dictionary as "a small digital image or icon used to express an idea or emotion in electronic communication," the term emoji comes from the Japanese e meaning "picture" and moji meaning "letter" or "character."

"Emojis are no longer the preserve of texting teens," an OED blog post said. "Instead, they have been embraced as a nuanced form of expression, and one which can cross language barriers."

The rest of the OED's Word of the Year shortlist, meanwhile, comprises actual words, including tech-savvy terms like "ad blocker," "Dark Web," and "sharing economy."

In other emoji news, Twitter is reportedly experimenting with new emoji reactions. Twitter user @_Ninji found that the new heart icon served up several emoji options, including several face emoji, the party hat, and the 100.

For more, find out the most popular emoji in your state.