'Selfie' named Word of the Year by Oxford Dictionaries

Are you ready for your close up? "Selfie" has emerged as the word of 2013, according to Oxford Dictionaries.

The word beat other ubiquitous terms like "twerk" and "binge-watching" as well as the lesser known "showrooming" - a verb which means browsing brick and mortar stores in order to buy them cheaper online.

Self-taken snaps - or "selfie" - have littered social media sites over the last year, with stars like Rihanna and Beyonce allegedly having an "instassistant" to take and post flattering self-portraits online.

One of the most famous selfies this year was the Pope posing with teenagers at the Vatican.

The picture went viral on social media and was widely speculated as being the first ever "Papal selfie".

Celebrity selfies have been doing the rounds for a while - one Miley Cyrus selfie which caused a stir was the snap in her Halloween costume for this year.

She went as rapper Lil Kim in the infamous purple jumpsuit she wore to the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards.

Judy Pearsall, editorial director for Oxford Dictionaries, explained:

Oxford Dictionaries believe the earliest known usage was posted online in an Australian forum 11 years ago:

A number of spin-off terms are also in circulation, such as helfie (a picture of someone's hair), belfie (a picture of someone's behind), welfie (a picture of someone working out) and drelfie (a drunken selfie).

Selfie has not yet been added to the Oxford English Dictionary, although it is being considered for future inclusion.