The publishers said a panel chose the word -- which the dictionary will define as an interjection suggesting indifference or boredom and as an adjective to describe something as mediocre or unimpressive -- from a list of hundreds submitted for the dictionary's 30th anniversary edition, which is slated for release next year, The Times of London reported Monday.

"This is a new interjection from the United States that seems to have inveigled its way into common speech over here," said Cormac McKeown, head of content at Collins Dictionaries.

"Internet and e-mail are playing a big part in formalizing the spellings of vocal interjections like these. Other examples would be hmm and heh, which are both now ubiquitous online and in e-mail. People are increasingly writing in a register somewhere in between spoken and written English," McKeown said to The Times.