"Brain Rot" Is 2024's Word of the Year According to Oxford University Press
With excessive, low-quality social media content at an all-time high, intellectual deterioration seemed to find everyone this year.
As the end of the year nears, Oxford University Press has once again revealed the Word of the Year. For 2024, “brain rot” comes out on top as becoming a worldwide public discussion after much analysis Oxford Press’s language date.
According to the dictionary, brain rot is a noun and defined as, “Supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as a 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.” The term “brain rot” received over 37,000 votes and was gained prominence this year. As society is dealt with the overconsumption of excessive low-quality online content, the term “brain rot” has been a common one when discussing on social media. between 2023 and 2024, the usage of the word surged by 230%. The first-ever recorded use of “brain rot” was in 1854 in Henry David Thoreau’s novel Walden.
Other words on the shortlist were demure, dynamic pricing, lore, romantasy and slop. 2024’s word of the year marks the continual influence of social media on daily lives. Viral themes impact trends, defining decades of the English language.
