LONDON (AP) — Many of us have felt it, and now it’s official: “brain rot” is the word of the year in the Oxford dictionaries.
Oxford University Press said on Monday that the suggestive phrase “gained new prominence in 2024”, with its frequency of use increasing 230% from the previous year.
Oxford defines brain rot as “the perceived deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, particularly when viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) that is considered trivial or indisputable.”
The word of the year is intended to be “a word or phrase that reflects a defining theme of the past twelve months.”
“Brain rot” was chosen through a combination of public voting and language analysis by Oxford lexicographers. It beat five other finalists: subduedslop, dynamic prices, romance and lore.
Although it may seem like a modern phenomenon, the first recorded use of “brain rot” was by Henry David Thoreau in his 1854 ode to the natural world, “Walden.”
Casper Grathwohl, president of Oxford Languages, said that ‘brain rot’ in the modern sense speaks to one of the perceived dangers of virtual life, and the way we use our free time.’
“It feels like a rightful next chapter in the cultural conversation about humanity and technology. It is not surprising that so many voters embraced the term and endorsed it as our choice this year,” he said.
Last year it was Oxford word of the year ‘rizz’, a riff on charismaused to describe someone’s ability to attract or seduce another person.
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Collins Dictionary’s Word of the Year 2024 is “brat” – the album title that became an ideal for summer life.