Is Your Brain Rotting? Oxford Dictionary Declares ‘Brain Rot’ as Word of the Year!

Do you know the term “brain rot”?

On December 1, The Guardian reported that the Oxford Dictionary has selected “brain rot” as its word of the year. This term describes the mental and intellectual deterioration resulting from excessive consumption of trivial information.

It reflects our current era, where the internet and social media are inundated with content that can potentially degrade our cognitive abilities. Oxford University Press explained that this word is “used to capture concerns about the impact of consuming excessive amounts of low-quality online content, especially on social media.” It noted its rise to prominence in 2024.

In fact, the term “brain rot” first appeared in 1854 in the seminal work Walden, the masterpiece of American transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau.

Casper Grathwohl, president of Oxford Languages, stated, “I find it fascinating that Gen Z (ages 15-29) and Gen Alpha (under 14) have adopted the term’ brain rot’, those communities largely responsible for the use and creation of the digital content the term refers to.”

The Oxford Dictionary considered six candidates for 2024’s word of the year. Among them were “demure,” meaning modest or proper; “dynamic pricing,” the practice of adjusting prices in real-time; and “romantasy,” a literary genre blending romance and fantasy fiction.

Last year, the term “rizz” was selected, a slang term derived from charisma, meaning captivating charm. In 2022, the new term “goblin mode” was chosen, describing an unapologetic attitude defying social norms. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, “vax,” short for vaccination, took the spotlight.

Meanwhile, the Cambridge Dictionary has chosen “manifest” as its word for 2024, which means imagining something you desire actually to come true.