'67' is Dictionary.com's 2025 Word of the Year

Dictionary.com made a unique choice for its 2025 Word of the Year.

The online dictionary announced that it has picked the Generation Alpha slang phrase "67" due to a surge in its usage in the past months.

"Searches for 67 experienced a dramatic rise beginning in the summer of 2025. Since June, those searches have increased more than sixfold," it said.

The leading digital dictionary shared its 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."

"67' shows the speed at which a new word can rocket around the world as a rising generation enters the global conversation," it explained.

The origin of "67" (pronounced "six-seven") could be traced back to Skrilla's 2024 song "Doot Doot (6 7)" and Gen Z NBA player LaMelo Ball, who is 6 feet, 7 inches tall.

The term went viral on TikTok as early as January, but it has resurged anew in September, particularly among schoolkids and teens.

Accompanied by a specific hand gesture, it was meant to be a playful response or expression when answering questions involving numbers, like “How tall are you?" or “What time is it?”

Dictionary.com said the word could mean “so-so,” or “maybe this, maybe that,” but noted that "it’s impossible to define. It’s meaningless, ubiquitous, and nonsensical. In other words, it has all the hallmarks of brainrot."

Other contenders for Dictionary.com's 2025 Word of the Year include "agentic," "aura farming," "Gen Z stare," the "dynamite emoji," "tariff," and "tradwife."