Oxford University Press’ word of the year for 2024 is “brain rot,” an expression — written as two words — that saw a 230% increase in usage over the last year, according to lexical authorities.
First recorded in Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden,” brain rot is defined by Oxford 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.”
Adam Cooper, a teaching professor of linguistics at Northeastern, says this year’s selection, while tongue in cheek, illustrates how the evolution of language can hold up a mirror to society — here pointing to the excesses of modern technology use.
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Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University
