“Brain Rot” Crowned Oxford University Press’ Word of the Year 2024
Oxford University Press (OUP), publisher of the Oxford English Dictionary, has announced “brain rot” as its word of the year for 2024, CNN reports.
The term, describing the perceived deterioration of mental and intellectual state due to overconsumption of trivial online content, triumphed in a public vote involving over 37,000 participants, alongside OUP’s language data analysis.
The word, showing a 230% increase in usage this year, is not entirely new. OUP notes its first appearance over a century ago in Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, where he lamented society’s preference for simplistic ideas over complex ones. Thoreau’s prescient observation, “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?” resonates strongly with contemporary concerns.
The recent surge in “brain rot’s” popularity reflects growing anxieties surrounding the impact of excessive, low-quality online content. This year, a US behavioral healthcare provider even began offering treatment for the condition, characterizing it as causing “mental fogginess, lethargy, reduced attention span, and cognitive decline,” and linking it to behaviors like doomscrolling and social media addiction. The provider suggests limiting screen time or undertaking digital detoxes as preventative measures.
“Brain rot” beat out other shortlisted words, including “lore,” “romantasy,” and “slop” (referring to low-quality AI-generated content), as well as “demure,” which recently gained viral popularity and was named Dictionary.com‘s word of the year. Last year, OUP selected “rizz,” a term describing someone’s ability to attract romantic partners, as its word of the year.
