In case you haven’t heard it yet: Merriam-Webster’s 2007 Word of the Year is “w00t.”

Onomatopoeic in nature, w00t is the expression gamers use after a triumph. Translated from sound to thought, its essential feeling is one of “Wow! I can’t believe that just happened to me! That’s so awesome!”

The word is a hybrid of letters and numbers, a combination quite common in today’s Internet language, often called l33t speak, or leet speak. The addition of this word to the dictionary not only celebrates a newly-official word, but also shows the emphasis that the Internet and its users have on our language.

This year’s candidates for Word of the Year also included new words such as facebook and linkability. Previous Merriam-Webster winners have included truthiness (2006), integrity (2005), blog (2004), and democracy (2003). Each year, the Word of the Year is chosen because it has been the most important word or expression used in public discussion, thrown about in media, or had an influence on society as a whole. The World of the Year is nominated and voted on in the United States, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein.