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You May Not Know What Dictionary.com’s Word of the Year Means, but Your Kids Do, Kind Of
The slang term 6-7 became dictionary.com’s 2025 Word of the Year after a surge in online searches and viral use among Gen Alpha children.
- On Oct. 28, Dictionary.com named `6-7` its 2025 Word of the Year after online searches surged sixfold since June during the summer of 2025.
- Viral TikTok and Instagram clips from October 2024 helped spread it, as Skrilla's 2024 song Doot Doot , LaMelo Ball videos, The 6-7 Kid, and Taylen "TK" Kinney propelled the meme.
- Experts characterize 6-7 as an interjection and part of social signals, with Steve Johnson saying `It’s part inside joke, part social signal and part performance`, and Dictionary.com noting it can mean `so-so` or `maybe this, maybe that` when paired with a shrug-like hand gesture where palms face up and move alternately.
- Mainstream culture picked it up — NBA and WNBA teams and NFL players used the phrase, Shaquille O'Neal joined in, and Comedy Central's South Park parodied it while parents and teachers reported disruptions.
- The selection underscores how younger generations and algorithms reshape language as Dictionary.com says it chose 6-7 for its influence online, highlighting 'brainrot slang' spread by search engines and social media.
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources12
Leaning Left5Leaning Right0Center4Last UpdatedBias Distribution56% Left
Bias Distribution
- 56% of the sources lean Left
56% Left
L 56%
C 44%
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