w00t! 2007 Word of the Year is ‘w00t’

Dictionary maker Merriam-Webster this week crowned the word “w00t” as 2007 Word of the Year.

“w00t” — typically spelled with two zeros — is like saying “Yay!” and is used as an expression of joy by online users.

Visitors to Merriam-Webster’s Web site were invited to vote for one of 20 words and phrases culled from the most frequently looked-up words on the site and submitted by readers.

The Word of the Year runner-up is “facebook,” a new verb which means “to add someone to a list of friends on the Web site Facebook.com or to search for people on the social networking site.”

Kudos to the word w00t! W00t!