Study In UK: Oxford University Announces Word Of The Year 2024 - Brain Rot

The word 'Brain Rot' means due to overconsumption of material or other reasons a supposed deterioration of a person’s intellectual and mental state.

Oxford University has announced a new word - the Word of the Year 2024. The new word Brain Rot is slang to define, " Supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as a 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."

The new slang was picked after worldwide public discussion, more than 37,000 votes and an analysis of Oxford's language data.

"Our experts noticed that ‘brain rot’ 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% between 2023 and 2024," said the university's statement.

"The first recorded use of ‘brain rot’ was found in 1854 in Henry David Thoreau’s book Walden, but has taken on new significance in the digital age," added the Oxford statement.

It Reflects Society's Increasing Preoccupation, Says Oxford University

While commenting on this, Casper Grathwohl President of Oxford Languages said, ”Looking back at the Oxford Word of the Year over the past two decades, you can see society’s growing preoccupation with how our virtual lives are evolving, the way the internet culture is permeating so much of who we are and what we talk about. Last year’s winning word, ‘rizz’, was an interesting example of how language is increasingly formed, shaped, and shared within online communities. ‘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.”

The university added that though this word is not new, its use has increased on social media platforms, especially on TikTok.

"The term has become more prominent, increasing by 250% in frequency per million words between 2023 and 2024 in our corpus," added the university.

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