‘Affect’ is most searched word of 2009

Dictionary.com has revealed that the most searched word in 2009 was ‘affect' after analysing the searches of more than 43 million people around the world every month.

According to the site, the finding reflects the fact that most people are looking for grammar help, confused about the difference between affect and effect.

Other words that made the top ten list of the year's most searched words include: ubiquitous, irony, socialism, effect, melancholy, love, integrity, nostalgic and pedantic.

The free dictionary website also offers a list of suggestions if a word that someone is trying to get a definition for is spelt incorrectly. Based on that feature, the site claims that ‘perseverance' was the most misspelled word this year, followed by convenient, embarrassed, prerogative and pretentious.