Dictionary.com has formally revealed its latest Phrase of the Yr.
The web dictionary introduced Wednesday that “67” is the 2025 Phrase of the Yr.
The annual decide serves as a “linguistic time capsule, reflecting social traits and world occasions that outlined the yr,” in accordance with Dictionary.com.
The time period’s precise origin is a bit unclear. Academics and oldsters started hearing kids and teenagers use the time period over the course of this yr, and a few say it may be interpreted as one other method of claiming “so-so,” “perhaps this” or “perhaps that,” the dictionary states.
Dictionary.com additional defined that the time period is a results of basic brainrot slang, which is “purposefully nonsensical and all about being in on the absurdity.”
The time period “67” — pronounced “six-seven” and by no means “sixty-seven,” the dictionary notes — has an unlimited lore. It may be traced again to Skrilla’s 2024 tune “Doot Doot (6 7),” whereas others have linked it to NBA participant LaMelo Ball, who’s 6 ft, 7 inches tall.
A boy now referred to as “The 67 Child” additionally went viral earlier this yr for utilizing the time period at a youth basketball sport.
“It is half inside joke, half social sign and half efficiency,” Steve Johnson, Ph.D., director of lexicography for the Dictionary Media Group at IXL Studying, stated in a press launch. “When individuals say it, they don’t seem to be simply repeating a meme; they’re shouting a sense.”
Johnson continued, “It is one of many first Phrases of the Yr that works as an interjection — a burst of vitality that spreads and connects individuals lengthy earlier than anybody agrees on what it truly means.”
Based on a Dictionary.com evaluation, “67” appeared in digital media six instances extra continuously in October alone than it did all through all of 2024.
“’67’ reveals the pace at which a brand new phrase can rocket all over the world as a rising technology enters the worldwide dialog,” the dictionary acknowledged.
Different phrases that made the shortlist of finalists for this yr’s Phrase of the Yr included “agnetic,” “aura farming,” “Gen Z stare,” “overtourism,” “tariff” and “tradwife.”
