There are still two months left in 2025, but Dictionary.com has already decided what word represents the year, and this one may just get on parents’ last nerves.
The online dictionary selected 67 as the word, if you can call it that, of the year.
For those not in the know, it isn’t sixty-seven, it is six, seven, usually accompanied by hand motions.
“If you’re the parent of a school-aged child, you might be feeling a familiar vexation at the sight of these two formerly innocuous numerals. If you’re a member of Gen Alpha, however, maybe you’re smirking at the thought of adults once again struggling to make sense of your notoriously slippery slang,” Dictionary.com said in a rather wordy explanation.
“To select the 2025 Word of the Year, our lexicographers analyzed a large amount of data including newsworthy headlines, trends on social media, search engine results, and more to identify words that made an impact on our conversations, online and in the real world,” according to the website.
The numeric term, according to the organization, had a dramatic rise in searches this summer and doesn’t seem to be stopping any time soon.
It came from the song “Doot Doot (67)” by Skrilla that went viral.
As for the definition, there isn’t one. Some say it means “so-so” or “maybe this or maybe that.” Others say it is just the means to frustrate “older” people.
“Perhaps the most defining feature of 67 is that it’s impossible to define. It’s meaningless, ubiquitous, and nonsensical. In other words, it has all the hallmarks of brainrot,“ Dictionary.com said.
Here are the words that 67 beat out for the 2025 word of the year:
- Agentic
- Aura farming
- Broligarchy
- Clanker
- 🧨 dynamite emoji (TNT, Taylor ‘n’ Travis)
- Gen Z stare
- Kiss cam
- Overtourism
- Tariff
- Tradwife
Here are some of the most recent words of the year:
- Demure (2024)
- Hallucinate (2023)
- Woman (2022)
- Allyship (2021)
- Pandemic (2020)