Macquarie Dictionary's 2017 Word of Year has garnered a mixed reaction on social media.
'Milkshake duck' refers to a person elevated to celebrity status online, but reputation quickly turns to ruin when their darker side is exposed.
It took hours of deliberation for the selection panel to choose the winning phrase but even though most Australians might not initially know what it means, they should be familiar with the phenomenon.
The concept was inspired by a tweet by Australian cartoonist Ben Ward.
"The milkshake duck is presented as this cute duck that loves drinking milkshakes, and everyone falls in love with it, and two seconds later it's revealed as being racist, so suddenly everyone has to turn around and hate it," Macquarie Dictionary editor Susan Butler explained.
Following the reveal, ABC News presenter Kirsten Aiken announced on Twitter: "I feel like we've all been Punk'd."
Meanwhile, strategist Holly Ransom asked: "Aussies, have I been living under a rock?"
"Is it best served confit? Roasted?" photographer Benn Glazier joked.
About 1000 new words will be added to the dictionary, covering a range of topics from the internet to the environment.
"New words are always a reflection of cultural trends or things that people are worried or concerned about. Overall the world is becoming more connected, so we see a lot of global words," Macquarie University linguist Ingrid Piller told SBS News.
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The word 'framily' – friends who are considered family – received an honourable mention, along with 'endling' – the death resulting in the extinction of a species like the Tasmanian tiger.
Other cultures also inspired new words, like 'daigou' - the Chinese personal shopping phenomenon.
Another new word is 'smashed-avocado generation', a term used to describe millennials who cannot afford to buy a house because they spend their disposable income on entertainment, travel and eating out.
