“Brain rot” has been announced as the Oxford word of the year for 2024 amid concerns over social media overuse and mind-absorbing content.
More than 37,000 people voted to help choose the winner from a shortlist of six words drawn up by Oxford University Press, publisher of the Oxford English Dictionary, reports
Its annual award, whose previous winners have included “rizz” and “climate emergency”, aims to reflect the moods and trends of the year, according to News.ro. “Brain Rot” is defined as “alleged deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially considered to be the result of excessive consumption of material (currently, especially online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging.”
Oxford University Press stated that the term “gained new prominence in 2024 as a term used to capture concerns about the impact of excessive consumption of low-quality online content, particularly on social media”. When it was first used Despite its recent rise, its first recorded use was in Henry David Thoreau’s book “Walden” in 1854.
Casper Grathwohl, chairman of Oxford Languages, said: “Brain Rot is about one of the perceived dangers of virtual life and how we spend our free time. It feels like a justified next chapter in the cultural conversation about humanity and technology.
It’s no surprise that so many voters have embraced the term, endorsing it as our choice this year.” “I also find it fascinating that ‘brain rot’ has been adopted by Gen Z and Alpha, those communities largely responsible for the use and creation of the digital content to which the term refers.”
What other words were on the list Among the five words that failed the shortlist were “demure,” which rose to prominence following a social media trend over the summer that refers to reserved or responsible behavior; “dynamic pricing”, where the price of a product or service varies to reflect demand; “lore”, a set of facts and background information related to someone or something; “romantasy”, a genre of fiction that combines romance and fantasy; and “slop”, low-quality online content generated with the help of artificial intelligence.
The shortlist was established by a panel of four experts, chaired by lexicographer Susie Dent, known for her appearances on Channel 4’s ‘Countdown’. Oxford University Press took into account the public vote in choosing the winner, as well as public comments and other analyzes before announcing it on Sunday evening.
Recent winners of the Oxford prize include “rizz”, short for charisma, which took the title last year. “Goblin mode” took the crown in 2022, and pandemic-era “vax” won in 2021. Across the Oxbridge divide, Cambridge Dictionary’s word of the year was announced last month as “manifest,” which is a trend wellness of imagining achieving a goal in the hope that it will make it more likely to happen. The word was searched 130,000 times on the Cambridge Dictionary website.
Social media trends were also tied to “demure,” which was named Dictionary.com’s winner for a TikTok movement over the summer that advised people to be reserved and careful in their behavior.
Another summer craze led the Collins Dictionary to designate “arm” as the word of the year, following the June release of Charli xcx’s album of the same name.
