More than 37,000 people have voted in a public vote to decide the Oxford Word of the Year.
‘Brain rot’ won out from a shortlist of six picked by language experts to reflect the moods and conversations that have helped shape the past year.
‘Brain rot’ is defined 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. Also: something characterized as likely to lead to such deterioration”.
It has gained new prominence this year as a term used to capture concerns about the impact of consuming excessive amounts of low-quality online content, especially on social media. The term increased in usage frequency by 230 per cent between 2023 and 2024.
The first recorded use of ‘brain rot’ was found in 1854 in Henry David Thoreau’s book Walden, which reports his experiences of living a simple lifestyle in the natural world. As part of his conclusions, Thoreau criticizes society’s tendency to devalue complex ideas, or those that can be interpreted in multiple ways, in favour of simple ones, and sees this as indicative of a general decline in mental and intellectual effort: “While England endeavours to cure the potato rot, will not any endeavour to cure the brain-rot – which prevails so much more widely and fatally?”
The term has taken on new significance in the digital age, especially over the past 12 months. Initially gaining traction on social media platform—particularly on TikTok among Gen Z and Gen Alpha communities—’brain rot’ is now seeing more widespread use, such as in mainstream journalism, amidst societal concerns about the negative impact of overconsuming online content.
We’re taking a look at the winner, the shortlisted words for 2024 and the last five words to win in previous years. How many do you use?
5. Slop
Slop is the sort of stuff that gives you brain rot. It's "art, writing, or other content generated using artificial intelligence, shared and distributed online in an indiscriminate or intrusive way, and characterized as being of low quality, inauthentic, or inaccurate." It was another of 2024's shortlisted words and phrases. | Canva/Getty Images
6. Romantasy
Outlander author Diana Gabaldon (pictured) is one of the leading proponents of romantasy. which has been very popular on BookTok this year. It's a "genre of fiction combining elements of romantic fiction and fantasy, typically featuring themes of magic, the supernatural, or adventure alongside a central romantic storyline." It was the last of the beaten shortlisted words of 2024. | Getty Images
7. Rizz
Defined as "style, charm, or attractiveness; the ability to attract a romantic or sexual partner", rizz is an abbreviation of the word charisma made popular by YouTuber Kai Cenat 2021. It went vital and was the Oxford University Press of 2023. | Getty Images
8. Goblin mode
2022's world of the year was the first decided by a public vote. Goblin mode is defined as “a type of behaviour which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations.” | Getty Images