Language – Brain Rot (OUP Word of the Year 2024)

This modern idiom – sometimes spelt “brainrot” – is defined by the Slang Dictionary (Online) as: “A slang term used to describe the effects of being ‘perpetually online’ and consuming large amounts of low-value internet content. Used both as a noun and a verb, it is also used to describe an intense and often obsessive preoccupation with a particular topic, such as a TV show, movie, fandom or idea. People experiencing ‘brain rot’ often find themselves mindlessly scrolling through never-ending social media content”.

The Merriam Webster Dictionary (Online) defines the term as: “Mindless digital content;  the fixation on it and the harmful effects of it”, and gives the following example: “I have Bridgerton ‘brain rot’. Ever since season 3 dropped, I eat sleep and breathe Bridgerton content’”.

On 2 December 2024 “Brain rot” was named, by the Oxford University Press, as the “Oxford Word of the Year for 2024”. OUP afforded the following rationale for the award:

‘Brain rot’ is defined 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. Also: something characterised as likely to lead to such deterioration”.

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.

The first recorded use of ‘brain rot’ was found in 1854 in Henry David Thoreau’s book Walden, which reports his experiences of living a simple lifestyle in the natural world. As part of his conclusions, Thoreau criticizes society’s tendency to devalue complex ideas, or those that can be interpreted in multiple ways, in favour of simple ones, and sees this as indicative of a general decline in mental and intellectual effort: “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?”

The term has taken on new significance in the digital age, especially over the past 12 months. Initially gaining traction on social media platform—particularly on TikTok among Gen Z and Gen Alpha communities—’brain rot’ is now seeing more widespread use, such as in mainstream journalism, amidst societal concerns about the negative impact of overconsuming online content. 

In 2024, ‘brain rot’ is used to describe both the cause and effect of this, referring to low-quality, low-value content found on social media and the internet, as well as the subsequent negative impact that consuming this type of content is perceived to have on an individual or society.

It has also been used more specifically and consistently in reference to online culture. Often used in a humorous or self-deprecating manner by online communities, it is strongly associated with certain types of content—including creator Alexey Gerasimov’s viral Skibidi Toilet video series, featuring humanoid toilets, and user-generated ‘only in Ohio’ memes, which reference bizarre incidents in the state. This content has given rise to emerging ‘brain rot language’—such as ‘skibidi’, meaning something nonsensical, and ‘Ohio’, meaning something embarrassing or weird—which reflects a growing trend of words originating in viral online culture before spreading offline into the ‘real world’.

Now also gaining momentum is a broader, more serious conversation about the potential negative impact that excessively consuming this content might have on mental health, particularly in children and young people. Earlier this year, a mental health centre in the US even published advice online about how to recognize and avoid ‘brain rot’.

Research has not turned up any use of the term “Brain rot” in caselaw.