“Brain rot” has been named Oxford’s Word of the Year for 2024, reflecting growing concerns over excessive social media use and the consumption of trivial, mind-numbing content.

More than 37,000 people participated in the voting process to select the winner from six shortlisted words, with “brain rot” emerging as the top choice. The Oxford Word of the Year award, which aims to capture the cultural mood and trends of the year, has previously granted the award to terms such as “rizz” and “climate emergency".

Defined as “the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially due to overconsumption of trivial or unchallenging online content,” “brain rot” has gained prominence in 2024 amid growing worries about the impact of mindless digital content, especially on social media platforms.

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Although it gained widespread attention this year, the term was first used by Henry David Thoreau in his 1854 book Walden. Casper Grathwohl, president of Oxford Languages, remarked, “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.” He added that it was fascinating how the term had been adopted by Gen Z and Gen Alpha, who are largely responsible for creating the very content the term critiques.

The five other words shortlisted for the award were “demure", popularized by a social media trend about reserved behavior; “dynamic pricing", which refers to fluctuating prices based on demand; “lore", meaning a body of background information about someone or something; “romantasy", a genre blending romance and fantasy; and “slop", referring to low-quality AI-generated content.

The shortlist was curated by a panel led by lexicographer Susie Dent, best known for her role on Channel 4’s Countdown. Oxford University Press also took into account public feedback and analysis before announcing “brain rot” as the winner.

Recent Oxford Word of the Year winners include “rizz” (2023), “goblin mode” (2022), and “vax” (2021). In comparison, Cambridge Dictionary’s Word of the Year for 2024 is “manifest", linked to the wellness trend of visualizing goals to increase their likelihood. Similarly, Dictionary.com chose “demure” as its winner, and Collins Dictionary awarded “brat”, following the release of Charli XCX’s album of the same name.