Oxford University Press just announced its always-anticipated word of the year. No, it’s not some pretentious jargon only uttered by the world’s top thinkers. It’s a trendy expression that won’t demand you think too hard at all. The word of the year is “brain rot.”
“Our language experts created a shortlist of six words to reflect the moods and conversations that have helped shape the past year,” the announcement shared. “After two weeks of public voting and widespread conversation, our experts came together to consider the public’s input, voting results, and our language data, before declaring ‘brain rot’ as the definitive Word of the Year for 2024.”
If you haven’t heard the term, well, perhaps you’ve been spending too much time on activities that do rot your brain, like binge-watching or doomscrolling. Oxford said this week that the phrase “gained new prominence in 2024,” as it was used about 230% more than in 2023.
The publication says the buzzworthy phrase refers to “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.” Therefore, even if you don’t use the phrase regularly, it’s not unlikely that you’ve been partaking in some brain-rotting activities because, well, who hasn’t this year?
Oxford always strives to choose a word that had a big impact on language and culture over the year, like 2023’s winner: “rizz,” which Gen Z throws around a lot to reference swagger or confidence. Other top contenders this year were demure, slop, dynamic pricing, romantasy, and lore.
Oxford says it choses words or phrases that “reflect a defining theme from the past 12 months.” The official word of the year is chosen by a public vote —around 37,000 people weighed in— and a language analysis by Oxford’s lexicographers.
“Brain rot” has certainly surged in popularity this year, as the activities which feel particularly mind-erasing have become more normalized. But the phrase isn’t exactly new. Oxford says the first recorded use of the term was way back in 1854 when Henry David Thoreau used it in the book Walden, which reflected on living simply in the natural world.
Oxford Languages President Casper Grathwohl said that, today, “‘brain rot’ speaks to one of the perceived dangers of virtual life, and how we are using our free time.” Grathwohl continued, noting that younger generations have latched onto the phrase and theorizing why they may be drawn to it. “These communities have amplified the expression through social media channels, the very place said to cause ‘brain rot’. It demonstrates a somewhat cheeky self-awareness in the younger generations about the harmful impact of social media that they’ve inherited.”