There was a competition to find the country's favourite word last year - what was the result

asks Mayastar:
A. The competition, which was launched by The Word, London's Festival of Literature, together with the publisher, Bloomsbury, and sponsored by Encarta, The World English dictionary, was run last year. The aim was to find the nation's favourite word.

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Q. Who voted
A. Celebrities were surveyed (see below), and websites and newspapers offered readers the chance to vote. In the end, there were around 15,000 responses.

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Q. What won
A. Serendipity. According to Encarta, it means a natural gift for making useful discoveries quite by accident. The word was coined by the writer Horace Walpole in 1754, after he had just read The Three Princes of Serendip, a Persian story about three princes who had this ability. (Serendip was the Persian name for Ceylon, now Sri Lanka.)

Quidditch came a close second.

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Q. Quidditch What's that
A. You're giving away your age. Quidditch, as any fule knows, is the game played by wizards in the Harry Potter books. It was invented by the author J. K. Rowling.

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Q. What were the others in the top ten
A. No 3 was that old favourite 'love'. No 4 was shared by 'peace' and 'why'. No 5 shows off with 'onomatopoeia'. No 6 and 7 are hope and faith, respectively. Coming in at No 8 are 'football', 'hello', 'family' and 'muggle' (the name for non-magical humans in the Harry Potter books). No 9 is shared by the polite 'home' and 'compassion' and the very much less polite 'f**k' and 'b******s'. No 10, ironically enough, is shared between 'Jesus' and 'money'.

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• Favourite celebrity words:
  Anthea Turner, TV presenter: Tenacious
  Barbara Windsor, actress: Darling
  Brian Blessed, actor: Everest
  Chris Tarrant, TV presenter: Holiday
  Dame Judi Dench, actress: Onomatopoeia
  Helen Fielding, author: Singleton
  Jenni Murray, broadcaster: Mendacious
  Justine Frischmann, musician: Yes
  Mariella Frostrup, TV presenter: Comely
  Matthew Rhys, actor: Hiraeth
  Mavis Nicholson, broadcaster: Gallant
  Max Clifford, publicist: Nostalgia
  Patrick Moore, astronomer: Satisfactory
  Paul Smith, fashion designer: Happiness
  Richard Curtis, writer and producer: Brownies Richard Whiteley, TV presenter: Moonset
  Ringo Starr, drummer: Serenity
  Sir Trevor McDonald, newscaster: Grace
  Spike Milligan, actor: Fish
  Steven Appleby, author: Flibbertigibbet
  Sting, musician: Laconic
  Sue Lawley, broadcaster: Rotund
  Sue Townsend, author: Little
  Terry Pratchett, author: Susurration
  Tony Parsons, author: Tomorrow
  Tony Robinson, actor, writer: Gnarled
  Will Self, author: Nausea
  Willy Russell, playwright: Sandwich .

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By Sheena Miller