In a move bound to make some shed tears, Oxford Dictionaries announced this week that its word of the year isn’t actually a word at all, but an emoji, officially called the “Face with Tears of Joy.” Which is appropriate, because we feel like crying right now.

Oxford chooses the word of the year by analyzing which words (and apparently emojis) best reflect the ethos of the current year. Typically, a word is chosen from modern slang that best represents the culture of the time. For example, the w.o.t.y. in 2014 was “vape.”

Over the last couple of years, emojis have gone through a cultural shift. And as text communication becomes more popular, pictographs are more widely used, as many are finding emojis are the quickest way to send a response.