Many people have felt it, and now it’s official: “Brain rot” is the Oxford dictionaries’ phrase of the yr.
Oxford College Press mentioned Monday that the evocative phrase “gained new prominence in 2024,” with its frequency of use rising 230% from the yr earlier than.
Oxford defines mind 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.”
The phrase of the yr is meant to be “a word or expression that reflects a defining theme from the past 12 months.”
“Brain rot” was chosen by a mix of public vote and language evaluation by Oxford lexicographers. It beat 5 different finalists: demure, slop, dynamic pricing, romantasy and lore.
Whereas it could appear a contemporary phenomenon, the primary recorded use of “brain rot” was by Henry David Thoreau in his 1854 ode to the pure world, “Walden.”
Oxford Languages President Casper Grathwohl mentioned that in its trendy sense, “’brain rot’ speaks to one of the perceived dangers of virtual life, and how we are using our free time.”
“It feels like a rightful next chapter in the cultural conversation about humanity and technology. It’s not surprising that so many voters embraced the term, endorsing it as our choice this year,” he mentioned.
Final yr’s Oxford phrase of the yr was “rizz,” a riff on charisma, used to explain somebody’s means to draw or seduce one other particular person.
Collins Dictionary’s 2024 phrase of the yr is “brat”–the album title that grew to become a summer-living superb.
