Ten years ago, if someone had told you that brain rot would be crowned Oxford’s Word of the Year, or that slop would become Merriam-Webster’s defining word of 2025, you’d probably have assumed they were joking.
But that’s exactly what happened.
Every year, dictionaries announce a Word of the Year that captures the conversations, behaviours and cultural moments shaping the English-speaking world. Sometimes it’s a completely new word. Sometimes it’s an old one that’s taken on a new meaning. More often than not, it’s a term that seems to appear everywhere almost overnight before finding its way into everyday conversation.
In recent years, those words have increasingly come from the internet.
Social media has accelerated the way language evolves, turning niche online slang into mainstream vocabulary in a matter of weeks. Terms like brain rot, rage bait, parasocial and AI slop didn’t begin in boardrooms or classrooms. They emerged from online communities before spreading into newspapers, television, workplaces and eventually the dictionary itself.
For marketers, that’s fascinating.
The words people search for, share and joke about often reveal far more than the latest trend. They offer a snapshot of what people are worried about, excited by or simply spending their time discussing. In many ways, a dictionary’s Word of the Year isn’t just about language – it’s about culture.
So, after brain rot, rage bait and slop, what could define 2026?
We’ve looked at recent Words of the Year, explored the themes emerging across different dictionaries and picked ten contenders that we think could shape the conversation over the next twelve months.
Recent Words of the Year
Over the past two years, one thing has become increasingly clear: dictionaries are looking to the internet as much as they are to traditional media when choosing their Word of the Year.
| Source | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Oxford Dictionary | Brain Rot | Rage Bait |
| Merriam-Webster | Polarization | Slop |
| Cambridge Dictionary | Manifest | Parasocial |
| Collins Dictionary | Brat | Vibe Coding |
| Macquarie Dictionary | Enshittification | AI Slop |
| Dictionary.com | Demure | 67 |
Looking across the lists, a few clear themes begin to emerge.
The Internet is Driving Language Evolution
Words such as brain rot, rage bait, AI slop and parasocial all describe online behaviours, communities or experiences. Even seemingly lighter choices like brat and demure owe much of their popularity to social media trends that spread around the world in a matter of days.
Collins’ 2024 winner, brat, is a good example: its rise traced directly back to Charli XCX’s album of the same name, with the record’s lurid green artwork and “brat summer” framing turning a single word of slang into a full-blown cultural moment. It’s a reminder that the internet no longer just reflects culture – it actively creates it.
Terms that might once have stayed within niche online communities now become part of everyday conversation, appearing in newspapers, workplaces and eventually dictionaries themselves.
AI Has Become Part of Everyday Conversation
Artificial intelligence also runs through many of these selections. Sometimes it’s explicit, as with AI slop or vibe coding. Other times it’s sitting just beneath the surface.
Brain rot captured concerns about endless scrolling and low-quality online content, while rage bait reflected growing awareness of how algorithms reward outrage and emotional engagement. Together, they paint a picture of a society trying to make sense of technology that’s changing faster than our language can keep up.
We’re Naming Feelings, Not Just Trends
Another interesting shift is that many recent winners describe experiences.
Words like manifest, parasocial and polarization give people a way to talk about emotions, relationships and behaviours that already existed but perhaps didn’t have a widely recognised label. Rather than creating entirely new ideas, these words make complex experiences easier to explain and share.
10 Words That Could Define 2026
Words of the Year tend to succeed because they make a complicated idea feel instantly recognisable.
They don’t always describe something new. Sometimes they give us a better way to talk about a feeling, behaviour or cultural shift that’s already been gathering momentum.
With that in mind, here are our top ten contenders for 2026’s Word of the Year.
Global Weirding
The process by which climate change is causing the weather worldwide to become more extreme, unstable and unpredictable.
Climate change isn’t simply making the world warmer. It’s making weather patterns more extreme, disruptive and difficult to predict.
Global weirding describes that wider instability, from prolonged heatwaves and droughts to sudden floods, storms and sharp changes in temperature.
It feels especially relevant in 2026. The UK has experienced an unprecedented run of temperatures above 35°C across May, June and July, while Western Europe recorded its hottest June to date. Extreme heat has increasingly been followed by wildfires, drought and violent storms, making previously unusual weather feel worryingly familiar.
The phrase has also gained ground because it communicates something that global warming sometimes doesn’t. The problem isn’t only rising temperatures. It’s the unpredictability that comes with them.
Runner-ups: Weather whiplash, a rapid shift between weather extremes, and heat rage, which describes the irritability and aggression associated with rising temperatures.
Manosphere
A loose network of misogynistic male internet groups and online media seen as promoting toxic masculinity and rigid gender norms.
The manosphere is a loose network of online groups, creators and communities focused on men’s issues, often promoting rigid ideas about gender, relationships and masculinity.
The term isn’t new, but it has become increasingly visible in mainstream conversations about social media, misogyny and the content being recommended to young men.
Louis Theroux brought the word to an even wider audience with his 2026 Netflix documentary, Inside the Manosphere, which examined a growing network of ultra-masculine influencers and the ideas they promote online.
Like parasocial before it, manosphere gives people a name for an online culture they may have encountered without fully understanding. That combination of digital relevance and wider social impact makes it a credible Word of the Year contender.
Runner-ups: Red pill, the belief that someone has awakened to an uncomfortable hidden truth, and broligarchy, an informal term for a small, powerful group of male technology leaders.
Overstimulated
A state in which your brain and nervous system receive more sensory, emotional or cognitive input than they can effectively process.
To feel overstimulated is to receive more sensory, emotional or cognitive input than your mind can comfortably process.
It’s a familiar feeling in a world of constant notifications, breaking news, video calls, economic uncertainty and social feeds that never seem to end.
Although the word itself isn’t new, its growing popularity reflects a wider shift in how people talk about stress. Rather than simply saying they’re busy or tired, people are becoming more specific about the effects of noise, screens, information and pressure on their ability to think and respond.
That makes overstimulated feel like a natural successor to terms such as brain rot. Where brain rot describes the perceived effect of consuming too much trivial online content, overstimulated captures the broader sense that there’s simply too much of everything.
Runner-ups: Regulating, the process of managing your emotional response, and functional freeze, when someone continues meeting their responsibilities while feeling numb, detached or overwhelmed internally.
Lowkenuinely
A blend of low-key and genuinely, used to describe something sincerely felt but expressed without much drama or enthusiasm.
Some words become contenders because they capture a major world event. Others succeed simply because people enjoy saying them.
Lowkenuinely is a blend of low-key and genuinely. It describes something sincerely felt, but expressed without too much drama or enthusiasm.
You might say a restaurant was lowkenuinely brilliant, or that you’re lowkenuinely excited about a plan. It’s deliberately casual, slightly awkward and exactly the sort of word that can spread quickly through social media.
Whether it has the staying power to become a dictionary Word of the Year is another question. Social media slang often rises and disappears before dictionaries have time to respond. However, words such as brat, demure and 67 have shown that cultural reach can matter just as much as longevity.
Runner-ups: Rawdog, meaning to complete something difficult or boring without preparation, assistance or distraction, and algospeak, coded language used online to avoid automated moderation.
Hydration Break
A scheduled break for drinking water during a sporting event, also known as a water stop or drinks break.
A hydration break is a scheduled pause during a sporting event that allows players to drink water and recover.
Before 2026, sport fans were most likely to encounter them during matches played in unusually hot or humid conditions. At the 2026 World Cup, however, FIFA introduced three-minute hydration breaks midway through both halves of every match.
The decision quickly became one of the tournament’s most debated changes. Some saw it as a necessary response to rising temperatures, while others argued that it interrupted the flow of matches or created a convenient new advertising opportunity.
That’s what makes it an interesting contender. Words of the Year often emerge when an ordinary phrase takes on a wider cultural meaning. By the end of the tournament, hydration break was no longer just a technical sporting term. It had become part of a much bigger conversation about extreme heat, player welfare, broadcasting and commercial influence.
Runner-ups: Padel, the fast-growing doubles racket sport played on an enclosed court, and Summerween, a Halloween-style celebration held during the summer months.
Treatonomics
An economic trend where people buy small, inexpensive treats during periods of high living costs, when bigger purchases feel out of reach.
When household budgets are stretched, people don’t necessarily stop spending altogether. Instead, they look for smaller ways to reward themselves.
Treatonomics describes the tendency to buy affordable luxuries during periods of economic uncertainty. Rather than booking an expensive holiday or upgrading the car, consumers might opt for a premium coffee, a new lipstick, a takeaway or a small impulse purchase that offers a moment of comfort without breaking the bank.
The idea feels particularly relevant in 2026, with the US-Iran conflict and repeated closures of the Strait of Hormuz pushing oil prices higher and unsettling household budgets already stretched by rising living costs. Businesses have already responded by promoting affordable indulgences, recognising that shoppers still want to treat themselves even when they’re watching every penny.
It’s also a useful reminder that spending habits are often emotional as well as financial. People don’t stop looking for joy during difficult times – they simply look for it in different places.
Runner-ups: Thucydides Trap, the idea that tensions between an established power and a rising one can make conflict more likely, and slopaganda, AI-generated propaganda designed to influence opinion at scale.
Slopper
Someone who relies too heavily on AI chatbots to make decisions, find information or complete tasks without applying much critical thought.
Artificial intelligence has transformed the way many of us work, learn and create. But as AI tools become more capable, a new stereotype has begun to emerge.
A slopper is someone who relies too heavily on AI chatbots to make decisions, answer questions or complete tasks without applying much critical thinking themselves.
Whether used jokingly or as an insult, the word reflects growing concerns about over-reliance on AI. As generative tools become embedded in education, workplaces and everyday life, debates around accuracy, creativity and independent thinking are becoming more common.
Recent Words of the Year have repeatedly reflected our relationship with technology, from brain rot to AI slop and vibe coding. If those conversations continue, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a word describing AI dependency gain traction next.
Runner-ups: Clanker, a derogatory term for robots or AI, and shadow AI, the use of AI tools within organisations without approval from IT or security teams.
Looksmaxxing
The sometimes extreme efforts, particularly among young men, taken to maximise their perceived physical attractiveness and social status.
The internet has always influenced beauty trends, but looksmaxxing takes the idea a step further.
The term has close ties to the manosphere entry above: it began life on incel forums in the early 2010s as a way to talk about improving a man’s perceived attractiveness and social standing, before finding a much bigger audience on platforms like TikTok. It refers to the sometimes extreme lengths people – particularly young men – go to in an effort to improve their appearance. That can range from relatively harmless skincare routines and fitness plans to cosmetic procedures and rigid diets.
While the word has existed in niche online communities for several years, it has entered mainstream conversation as debates around body image, cosmetic enhancements and social media algorithms have intensified.
Combined with trends such as #SkinnyTok and ongoing discussions about the impact of filters and AI-generated beauty standards, looksmaxxing reflects a wider shift in how appearance is discussed online.
Runner-ups: Yassify, heavily editing an image using beauty filters, and Instagram Face, the homogenised beauty standard popularised by social media.
Scroll Fatigue
A feeling of mental exhaustion caused by spending too much time scrolling through social media or other online content.
We’ve all done it.
You pick up your phone to reply to a message, then twenty minutes later you realise you’ve watched half a dozen videos, skimmed countless headlines and somehow learnt absolutely nothing.
Scroll fatigue describes the mental exhaustion that comes from endlessly consuming online content without feeling informed, entertained or refreshed.
It’s a phrase that feels increasingly relevant as people become more aware of the impact social media has on concentration, sleep and wellbeing. Governments are beginning to respond too, with countries including Australia introducing social media restrictions for under-16s, while similar plans continue in the UK and elsewhere.
Like brain rot, scroll fatigue puts a name to an experience many people already recognise. The difference is that it focuses less on the content itself and more on the lingering feeling it leaves behind.
Runner-ups: Gen Z stare, describing a blank or vacant facial expression, and revenge bedtime procrastination, staying awake later than intended to reclaim personal time after a busy day.
Uncanny Valley
The disturbingly lifelike but not quite human quality of something, such as a robot, digital avatar or AI-generated image.
Unlike many of the other contenders on this list, uncanny valley isn’t a new term.
Coined by Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori in the 1970s, it describes the uneasy feeling we experience when something appears almost – but not quite – human.
For decades, the phrase was mainly used in discussions about robotics, animation and computer-generated characters. Today, it’s experiencing a resurgence for a very different reason.
As AI-generated images, videos and digital avatars become increasingly convincing, people are using uncanny valley to describe everything from synthetic influencers to realistic voice clones and AI-generated advertising. Technology is getting closer than ever to mimicking human creativity, but we’re still remarkably good at noticing when something feels just slightly… off.
Recent Words of the Year have repeatedly explored our changing relationship with artificial intelligence, and uncanny valley feels like the next logical step. Rather than focusing on AI itself, it captures our emotional response to a world where it becomes increasingly difficult to tell what’s real.
Runner-ups: Content farming, the large-scale production of low-quality online content, and FOBO (fear of becoming obsolete), the growing concern that AI could replace human jobs and skills.
Why This Matters for Marketers
At first glance, Words of the Year might seem like little more than a bit of fun. But for marketers, they offer something much more valuable: insight into the way people think, talk and engage with the world around them.
Language doesn’t evolve in isolation. It changes alongside technology, politics, popular culture and consumer behaviour. The words people use today often become the search terms, headlines and conversations that shape tomorrow’s marketing campaigns.
That doesn’t mean every brand should start using internet slang in its social posts. In fact, trying too hard to sound current can often have the opposite effect.
Instead, the lesson is to pay attention.
Understanding emerging language helps you understand your audience. It reveals:
- What people are concerned about
- What they’re laughing at
- What they’re searching for
- How they describe the challenges they’re facing
Whether you’re creating blog content, planning social media campaigns or refining your SEO strategy, those insights can help your marketing feel more relevant and more human.
The best marketing doesn’t simply follow trends. It understands why those trends resonate in the first place.
What Do You Think 2026’s Word of the Year Will Be?
Of course, we’ve almost certainly missed a few contenders.
New words can appear almost overnight, particularly on social media, and it’s often impossible to predict which ones will stick around long enough to enter the mainstream. That’s part of what makes the annual announcements so interesting.
So, what do you think?
Will one of the words on our list be crowned 2026’s Word of the Year, or have you spotted another phrase that’s quietly gathering momentum? We’d love to hear your predictions, so let us know in the comments.
Who knows? We might all be using it this time next year.
In the meantime, if you’d like to build a digital marketing strategy that’s rooted in real audience behaviour – not just the latest buzzwords – we’d love to help. Get in touch with our team to find out how we can help your business stay one step ahead.