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The most popular word of 2014 has been revealed, and is not actually a word at all but a symbol meaning love. 

A heart 'emoji' was the most widely used character in blogs, Twitter and Facebook and in 250,000 global news outlets in the last 12 months, according to analysts. 

The increasing prominence of the emoji or emoticon shows how symbols are making their way into the English language with the rise of the internet. 

The heart emoji, typically used to mean love, is the most popular word of 2014 but is not actually a word at all

There are now 722 recognised characters which portray an emotion, expression, or state of mind, or a person, place or thing - with another 250 to be made available over the next year. 

The list was compiled by the Global Language Monitor in Austin, Texas, which analyses the use of words and symbols in blogs, social media and 250,000 of the most popular online and print news outlets across the world. 

Researchers found the heart emoji appeared billions of times a day across the world. 

Other words that rose to popularity in 2014 were 'vape' from the term vaporise, used to refer to electronic or e-cigarettes. This word appeared in the Oxford Dictionary's top word for 2014. Prince George also made the list along with the phenomena blood moon - referring to the blood red colour of the moon after it passes in the earth's shadow, causing the sun's red light to scatter.

Paul Payack, president of Global Language Monitor, said: 'The English Language is now undergoing a remarkable transformation unlike any in its 1400 year history - its system of writing, the alphabet, is gaining characters at amazing rate.

'These character are ideographs or pictographs that are called emoji and emoticons.

Vape was among the most popular words of 2014, and refers to the now popular use of electronic cigarettes 

Ebola was the most widely used name of 2014 after the deadly virus killed thousands in Africa

'There are about a thousand emoji characters now officially recognised by Unicode Consortium, the official keepers of coding that forms the basis of the internet.

'They regularly review new suggestions with the next 37 or so being finalised for June 2015.

'Then the new emoji can be embedded in any number of devices for any number of languages.' 

The list is the 15th annual survey compiled by Global Language Media. Last year '404' appeared as the most popular word - the internet error message showing the popularity of online media. 

Social media and the internet strongly influenced words appearing in the list - with hashtag, photobomb and clickbait all in the list. 

Ebola earned top place in the list of names - above Pope Francis and Prince George. The project also included the most common phrases for 2014 with 'Hands up, don't shoot' in the number one spot. This phrase was coined by protesters who called for action after the shooting of black teenager Michael Brown in St Louis, Missouri in August. 

MOST POPULAR WORDS OF 2014 

The heart emoji - the symbol for love is one of almost 1,000 in use

Hashtag - the reformed pound sign (#) which often gets topics trending on Twitter

Vape - referring to vaporising, the practice of using an electronic or e-cigarette

Blood Moon - the blood red appearance of the moon caused when it enters the earth's shadow and captures the sun's red rays 

Nano - can mean small (1 billionth of a metre) or refer to the type of technology

Photo Bomb - breaking into a pre-arranged assemble for a photo

Caliphate - a form of Islamic political leadership

(White) privilege - The alleged advantages of having lighter colored skin in a diverse society.

Bae - term of endearment for an object of desire

Bash tag - use of a hashtag to undermine people you do not really like on social media

MOST USED 2014 PHRASES  

Hands up, don't shoot - chant of protesters after shooting of Michael Brown in Missouri. 

Cosmic inflation - explosive growth of the Universe from a singularity. 

Global warming - The rising temperatures caused by our use of fossil fuels.

Climate change - predictions of changes in temperature if use of gases continues. 

War on Women - women and young girls stolen and sold into sexual slavery or forced into arranged marriages. 

All time high - description of successful world markets. 

Rogue nukes - referring to claims that Iran could assemble a nuclear bomb in weeks. 

Near-Earth asteroid - space rock damaged buildings and crashed into Russian lake.

Big data - refers to how data is processed, analysed and gives a conclusion.

Polar Vector - an unusually long-lived Polar outbreak bringing very cold weather.