‘Blog’ was the most looked for word on Merriam-Webster’s website this year.

A four-letter term that came to symbolize the difference between old and new media during this year’s presidential campaign tops U.S. dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster’s list of the 10 words of the year.

Merriam-Webster said Tuesday that “blog,” defined as “a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments and often hyperlinks,” was one of the most looked-up words on its Internet sites this year.

This certainly signals the rise of blogs into more mainstream awareness. A few weeks ago, my mother-in-law, who isn’t particularly web or computer savvy, asked my wife what a blog was, after she had heard the term used on the radio. I thought at the time that this possibly indicated a shift in awareness on the part of the general non-techie population. An so it seems it is, as my mother-in-law isn’t the only person wondering what a blog is.

N.Z. Bear marks the occasion by using all ten words in a single sentence.