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?
9. Vax
In 2021 the world had come to a standstill due to the global pandemic. Little wonder that the word of the year was vax - a shortened form of the word vaccine. | Canva/Getty Images
10. Climate emergency
As protests about global warming broke out in countries around the world, in 2019 the word of the year was climate emergency. It's defined as "a situation in which urgent action is required to reduce or halt climate change and avoid potentially irreversible environmental damage resulting from it". Since 2016 over 2,100 local governments in 39 countries have made climate emergency declarations. | Canva/Getty Images
11. Toxic
From toxic masculinity to toxic waste, the Oxford Dictionaries felt “toxic” reflected “the ethos, mood, or preoccupations of the passing year” in 2018. | Canva/Getty Images