Dictionary.com’s Word Of The Year is ‘6 7’ — and literate people are losing their minds over it: ‘Like a man being named woman of the year’

Dictionary.com‘s Word of the Year is one that few can define.

The online reference tool announced on Oct. 29 that “6 7” is its word of the year.

If you don’t know a school-aged kid, you probably aren’t familiar with “6 7” (“six seven”), the slang word that has captivated Gen Alpha to the extent that teachers have started to ban it from schools.

But what does it actually mean? Not much, Dictionary.com said.

“Perhaps the most defining feature of 67 is that it’s impossible to define,” the announcement read. “It’s meaningless, ubiquitous, and nonsensical.”

Some people interpret it as “so-so” or “maybe this, maybe that,” and it’s typically paired with a shrug-like hand gesture where palms face up and move alternately. It’s also used as an exclamation.

Dictionary.com described the phrase as “classic brainrot slang: purposefully nonsensical, endlessly remixable and all about being in on the absurdity.”

“Few slang terms have captured the cultural mood of 2025 quite like 67,” Steve Johnson, PhD, Director of Lexicography for the Dictionary Media Group at IXL Learning, said in a statement.

“It’s part inside joke, part social signal and part performance. When people say it, they’re not just repeating a meme; they’re shouting a feeling. 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.”

People on social media were baffled by the choice.

Dictionary.com

“when did 67 become a word?” someone asked.

“Since when is a number a word? God, I hate kids,” one added.

“A word with no definition. Nice,” another sarcastically wrote.

“We’re cooked,” one said. “We were supposed to be advancing as a civilization, but right now we are regressing.”

“The least serious dictionary ever,” a user declared.

“That’s like a man being named woman of the year,” another joked.

To select 67 as the word of the year, Dictionary.com’s lexicographers looked for words that “made an impact on our conversations” by analyzing data such as newsworthy headlines, social media trends, search engine results and more.

Dictionary.com’s Word of the Year and short-listed nominees are meant to “capture pivotal moments in language and culture” and “serve as a linguistic time capsule.”

Beginning in the summer of 2025, searches for “67” dramatically increased, and since June, those search numbers have increased more than sixfold.

It’s unclear exactly where and how 67 originated. Some link it back to a song called “Doot Doot (6 7)” by Skrilla, and others bring it back to NBA player LaMelo Ball, who is 6ft 7in.

A TikTok of a video discussing the Charlotte Hornets point guard’s height had the “67” lyric from “Doot Doot” dubbed over it, and it quickly went viral with 10.1 million views and 1.3 million likes as of Oct. 30.

Some link the origin of 67 back to a song called “Doot Doot (6 7)” by Skrilla. YouTube/Skrilla

However, 67 isn’t the only term that dominated culture this year. Other words on Dictionary.com’s shortlist for 2025 include agentic, aura farming, broligarchy, clanker, Gen Z stare, kiss cam, overtourism, tariff and trad wife.

Another non-word that made the short list is the dynamite emoji, which traditionally represents dynamite, a firecracker or TNT. The emoji took on a new meaning in 2025 following the engagement of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce as social media users playfully rebranded the emoji as shorthand for the couple –“T ‘n’ T,” or “T & T.”