The word ‘brain rot’ has been voted as Oxford’s Word of the Year for 2024.
The term, which has been made popular with Gen Z and Gen Alpha, 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.”
The word won the honours through a public vote of over 37,000 people, from a shortlist of six words including “demure” and “romantasy.”
The word first appeared 170 years ago, in a book called Walden by Henry David Thoreau.
The author wrote: “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 Oxford Word of the Year last year was ‘rizz’
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The President of Oxford Languages, Casper Grathwohl, said: “‘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.
“I find it fascinating the term ‘brain rot’ has been adopted by Gen Z and Gen Alpha, those communities largely responsible for the use and creation of the digital content the term refers to.
“These communities have amplified the expression through social media channels, the very place said to cause ‘brain rot’.
“It demonstrates a somewhat cheeky self-awareness in the younger generations about the harmful impact of social media that they’ve inherited.”
Several people reacting on X said that ‘brain rot’ is actually two words so cannot be Word of the Year.
One commenter wrote: “‘Brain rot’ is actually two words otherwise known as a term of phrase. Please correct.”
Another commenter said: “It’s a compound word guys. Compound words can have spaces. It’s a quirk of English.”
One other user wrote on X: “I thought the two words that would be word of the year would be woke s**t.”
