Oxford University Press said the phrase "brain rot" gained "new prominence in 2024," with its frequency of use increasing 230% from the year before.

Oxford University Press’ Word of the Year has arrived, and it’s a term you may have heard on TikTok. Learn more about what rizz means and why it was chosen.

Just as it has in years past, Oxford University Press said it again enlisted the public’s help in choosing its word. More than 37,000 people voted this year.

The first recorded use of “brain rot,” according to Oxford University Press, was in Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, published in 1854.