Yahoo News Do you know what the Oxford words of the year for 2024 mean?
The winning word, brain rot, was chosen after 37,000 votes, with use of the word having risen 230% between 2023 and 2024.
What word best encapsulates the past year? It’s a question Oxford University Press (OUP) grapples with every 12 months.
This year, the OUP has homed in on six top candidates – and one winner, ‘Brain rot’.
The six candidate words for the Oxford Word of 2024 reflect our always-online world, with references to TikTok trends and online fears.
Previous winners have included 'Rizz' (charisma and charm, 2023), 'Goblin mode' (lazy and slobbish behaviour, 2022), and 'Vax' (vaccine, 2021).
The winning word, brain rot, was chosen after 37,000 votes, with use of the word having risen 230% between 2023 and 2024.
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 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.
Grathwohl says that this year’s winner, “feels like a rightful next chapter in the cultural conversation about humanity and technology".
But do YOU know what they mean? Try our quiz below to see if you can work out what the candidate words of the year really mean.
