Oxford Dictionary Reveals 2024’s Most Popular Word

The Oxford English Dictionary has announced the most popular word of 2024. The word of the year is ‘Brain rot’, which means ‘Beyin Çürümesi’ in Turkish. The word reflects the excessive use of social media. It was selected through a vote with more than 37,000 participants. Each year’s chosen word aims to reflect the trends and moods of that year.

The publisher of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, defines brain rot as ‘the deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state as a result of excessive consumption of material (especially online content) considered to be unimportant or challenging, particularly in today’s world’.

The word, which has recently gained prominence, was first recorded in Henry David Thoreau’s 1854 book ‘Walden’.