Miley Cyrus brought twerking to the international stage this year, inspiring mining billionaire and now politician Clive Palmer, who famously twerked while on the election campaign trail. 

Palmer photo originally by Benjamin J MacDonald via wikipedia and Cyrus photo originally by Stablindking via flickr.

So could twerking be up for the word of the year accolade?

The Australian National Dictionary Centre (ANDC) is on the hunt for its 2013 word of the year, and is looking for suggestions on which words you think should make the shortlist.

One word will then be crowned the winner based on its prominence in the Australian social and cultural landscape throughout the year.

It doesn’t need to be a newly coined term. The winning word for 2012 was green-on-blue: ‘an attack made on one’s own side by a force regarded as neutral’, significant in the media during 2012 in reference to Australia’s ongoing military involvement in Afghanistan. 

If you have a tip for a term you think should be included, submit it through the ANDC Word Box or tweet them @ozworders

Other previous Words of the Year include podcast (2006), GFC (2008), and Twitter (2009), showing that new words and phrases continually enter our vocabulary as our language organically grows and changes.

In this year’s newly released seventh edition of the Australian Pocket Oxford Dictionary many new words have been added under the Oxford seal of approval.

The first edition, published in 1976, is significant as it was the first general reference dictionary to reflect Australian society and culture, says ANDC Director Dr Amanda Laugesen.

”Australian English is subject to external influences, but we continue to see new Australianisms and Australian usages,” she says.

The publication’s editorial team, Dr Laugesen, Mark Gwynn and Julia Robinson are constantly on the lookout for new words entering the Australian lexicon, and ensure that their definitions reflect the Australian context.

In the new edition of the Australian Pocket Oxford Dictionary, the influence of global trends is clear through the addition of words related to the internet, technology, popular culture and politics such as hashtag, sexting, bromance, selfie, fracking and emissions trading, to name a few.

But specific ‘Australianisms’ have also been included like welcome to country, hook turn and NBN.

If you’d like to submit an entry for 2013 Word of the Year, email andc@anu.edu.au, use the ANDC Word Box or tweet them @ozworders. The ANDC’s Word of the Year will be announced in December.