If you’ve been removed as a friend in a social networking site such as Facebook, then you have just been ‘unfriended.’ And, you’ve also helped contribute to making the word as the top word for 2009.

“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,” says Christine Lindberg, senior lexicographer for Oxford’s US dictionary program.

Adam Astrow of Mashable.com observes how dictionary makers have made it an annual activity to declare ‘words of the year’ to gain some buzz. And ever since Merriam-Webster chose the word “blog’ as its word for 2007, everybody else followed suit.

Today Facebook has over 300 milllion members around the world, friending and unfriending each other on a regular basis. It is ranked by Compete.com as the most used social network by worldwide use, followed by MySpace.

Other tech-savvy words joining ‘unfriend’ on the New Oxford American Dictionary 2010 edition are ‘hashtag’, ‘netbook,’ and ’sexting’ which means the sending of sexually explicit texts and pictures via cellphone. However, these words failed to beat the Facebook lingo in the number one spot.

Last year, Oxford’s word of the year was ‘hypermiling’. It meant attempting to maximize gas mileage by making fuel-conserving adjustments to one’s car and one’s driving techniques. Looks like last year was all about oil price hikes and 2009 is all about Facebook. (Lace L)

Sources: Wikipedia, Mashable, ABC, CNET, Oxford University Press