In a global poll of language experts across more than 60 countries the word "Vuvuzela" outperformed "Waka Waka", "Jabulani", "bafana" and "Zakumi". It has without question made the biggest World Cup impact of any word since "WAG's" in the 2006 World Cup.

Vuvuzela has been voted the word of the World Cup, in a global poll of language experts and translation services in over 60 countries. The linguists voted it the single word that has made the biggest impact on the 2010 World Cup, and that it will be best remembered for.

Vuvuzela, the long, coloured plastic horn or trumpet blown loudly by World Cup spectators, won a landslide victory in a survey of linguists conducted by Today Translations, a London-based translation company with a network of 2,600 linguists in over 60 countries.

It far out-pointed Waka (as in Waka Waka/ This Time for Africa, the official World Cup song, sung by Shakira), which came in second place, itself well ahead of the three words in joint third place:

Jabulani (the official match ball of the World Cup) Zakumi (the official World Cup mascot), and bafana (as in bafana bafana/the boys the boys, the nickname of the South African national team)

Over 320 linguists from over 60 countries voted in the poll.

Long after individual matches and goals are forgotten, this will be remembered as the Vuvuzela World Cup, predicts Jurga Zilinskiene, MD of the translation company Today Translations. Thanks to the World Cup, vuvuzela has the entered the shared language of the world and joined the ranks of words that need no translation.

In fact, adds Zilinskiene, it has made the biggest World Cup impact of any word since WAGs the acronym for Wives And Girlfriends, particularly those of the England football players. WAGs was probably the word of the last World Cup, in 2006, says Zilinskiene. But the big difference is that it was mainly a British term, whereas Vuvuzela is now a global one.

Origins of the term vuvuzela

The origin of the word vuvuzela is disputed.

Some argue that it originates from the Zulu for 'making a loud noise. Others maintain it relates to township slang for the word 'shower', because it 'showers people with music. Another theory for the latter derivation is that it resembles a shower-head.

Wikipedia adds: It was first used in South Africa from the Zulu language or Nguni dialect meaning to make a vuvu sound (directly translated: vuvu-ing).

And the runners-up were

Second place in the poll went to Waka, as in Waka Waka, the title of the official 2010 World Cup song, sung by Shakira. The English title of the song is This Time For Africa, but, according to the most common view, the word waka is a Swahili or Kiswahili word variously translated as shine, be lighted, blaze or burn brightly.

In joint third place was Jabulani , the name of the official but controversial World Cup ball. It means rejoice or bring joy and happiness in Zulu.

Also joint third was Zakumi, the official World Cup mascot and a cheery leopard with green hair. His name, says Wikipedia, comes from ZA, the ISO code for South Africa and kumi, a word that means ten in several African languages.

The final word to share joint third place was Bafana, as in Bafana Bafana, the nickname of the South African national football team. Bafana literally means the boys in Nguni languages such as IxiXhosa and IsiZulu.