Oxford Dictionary has unveiled its Word of the Year for 2024!
You’ve probably seen it all over the internet or perhaps even used it yourself. It’s a term that perfectly sums up the struggles we face in the digital age. Well, the Oxford Dictionary just made it official: “brain rot” is its Word of the Year for 2024.
Photo: Alexey Gerasimov, Freepik, @yoe_590/TikTok
The dictionary defines brain rot as “the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging. Also: something characterized as likely to lead to such deterioration.”
According to the Oxford Dictionary, its experts compiled a list of six words to reflect the moods and conversations that have shaped the past year. The term garnered over 37,000 public votes, emerging as the Word of the Year 2024.
The usage of “brain rot” also increased by 230% between 2023 and 2024, gaining traction on social media platforms, particularly TikTok, among Gen Z and Gen Alpha. It has now become more widely used, including in mainstream journalism, due to growing societal concerns about the negative impact of overconsuming online content.
Photo: Oxford University Press
“In 2024, ‘brain rot’ is used to describe both the cause and effect of this, referring to low-quality, low-value content found on social media and the internet, as well as the subsequent negative impact that consuming this type of content is perceived to have on an individual or society,” the dictionary noted.
Brain rot was first used in 1854 in Henry David Thoreau’s book Walden, which describes his “experiences of living a simple lifestyle in the natural world.”
Other words included in Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year for 2024 are demure, dynamic pricing, lore, romantasy, and slop.
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