Oxford University Press has named “brain rot” as the Word of the Year for 2024, reflecting growing concerns about the intellectual degradation associated with excessive consumption of online content. This marks the latest in a growing trend of Gen Z’s borderline-unintelligible slang terms winning yearly distinctions from major publications as online culture steadily seeps into the real world.
Selected through a public vote involving over 37,000 participants, “brain rot” saw a 230% increase in usage from 2023 to 2024, especially on social media platforms like TikTok.
“Last year’s winning word, ‘rizz,’ was an interesting example of how language is increasingly formed, shaped, and shared within online communities,” said Oxford Languages President Casper Grathwohl. “‘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,” he continued. “I also find it fascinating that the word ‘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.”
The term “brain rot” first appeared in Henry David Thoreau’s 1854 work Walden, the famed writer’s treatise on Transcendentalism and the burdens of post-industrial life.
“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?” he mused.
In the 170 years since these words were written, “brain rot” has evolved to describe the negative impacts of low-quality digital content on mental health and cognitive abilities. Language experts now define “brain rot” 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.”
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The phrase’s rising prominence marks a significant cultural response to the challenges posed by the digital age, capping off a year of political contention regarding the harmful effects of social media on the nation’s youth.
Over the summer, United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy urged Congress to place health warning labels on social media apps, suggesting that overuse of online platforms should be treated similarly to the harmful effects of tobacco products. This came shortly after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis enacted legislation banning minors under the age of 14 from creating social media accounts, marking one of the country’s strictest crackdowns on youth internet activity.
“Brain rot” beat out five other Word of the Year contenders, including “dynamic pricing,” “lore,” “romantasy,” “slop,” and “demure,” the latter of which was named Dictionary.com’s Word of the Year after being popularized by a viral TikTok.
As with “rizz” in 2023, “brain rot’s” Word of the Year status highlights the growing spillover of Gen Z internet-speak into the common vernacular.
In 2022, the Oxford title went to “goblin mode”—referring to “unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy” behavior–and in 2021, at the height of the COVID pandemic, it was “vax.”
Meanwhile, Collins Dictionary gave its 2024 Word of the Year distinction to “brat,” an adjective popularized by British pop star Charli XCX (and to a lesser extent the Kamala Harris campaign) defined as “characterized by a confident, independent, and hedonistic attitude.”
Australia’s Macquarie Dictionary awarded the title to “enshittification,” defined as “the gradual deterioration of a service or product brought about by a reduction in the quality of service provided, especially of an online platform, and as a consequence of profit-seeking.”
Connor Walcott is the lead writer for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X and look for him on VT’s “The Unusual Suspects.”
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