"The online dictionary announced Wednesday that "67" is the 2025 Word of the Year. The annual pick serves as a "linguistic time capsule, reflecting social trends and global events that defined the year," according to Dictionary.com. The term's exact origin is a bit unclear. Teachers and parents began hearing kids and teenagers use the term over the course of this year, and some say it can be interpreted as another way of saying "so-so," "maybe this" or "maybe that," the dictionary states."
""It's part inside joke, part social signal and part performance," Steve Johnson, Ph.D., director of lexicography for the Dictionary Media Group at IXL Learning, said in a press release. "When people say it, they're not just repeating a meme; they're shouting a feeling." Johnson continued, "It's one of the first Words of the Year that works as an interjection -- a burst of energy that spreads and connects people long before anyone agrees on what it actually means.""
Dictionary.com named '67' the 2025 Word of the Year and described it as a linguistic time capsule reflecting social trends and global events. The phrase's origin remains unclear, with teachers and parents reporting children and teenagers using it as an interjection meaning roughly 'so-so,' 'maybe this' or 'maybe that.' The term arises from brainrot slang that embraces purposeful nonsense and shared absurdity. '67' is pronounced 'six-seven' and not 'sixty-seven.' The term has links to Skrilla's 2024 song 'Doot Doot (6 7),' to LaMelo Ball's height, and to a viral youth basketball '67 Kid.' Usage spiked sixfold in October compared with all of 2024.
Read at ABC7 San Francisco
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