When it comes to new terms coined this year, the Oxford English Dictionary [1] thinks "vape," which was added in August, smoked the competition, crowning it the 2014 word of the year. Thanks to the recent popularity of e-cigarettes, "vaporizing" — "to inhale and exhale the vapour produced by an electronic cigarette or similar device" — has become commonplace. But which others came close?

"Bae," a noun "used as a term of endearment for one's romantic partner," is a term that Oxford noted [2] as a strong contender. The dictionary also deemed "contactless" ("relating to or involving technologies that allow a smart card, mobile phone, etc. to contact wirelessly to an electronic reader, typically in order to make a payment"), "normcore" ("a trend in which ordinary, unfashionable clothing is worn as a deliberate fashion statement"), and "slacktivism" ("actions performed via the Internet in support of a political or social cause but regarded as requiring little time or involvement") as runners-up for the word of the year title.

What do you think about these modern additions to the English language?