Go ahead and roll your eyes. Shrug your shoulders. Or maybe just juggle with your hands in the air.
Dictionary.com’s word of the year isn’t even really a word. It’s the viral term “6-7” that children and teenagers can’t help but repeat and laugh at, and parents and teachers can’t understand.
The word – if you can call it that – exploded in popularity over the summer. Rather, it is an inside joke with vague meaning, driven by social media.
Dictionary.com says its annual selection is a linguistic time capsule reflecting social trends and events. But the site admitted it was also a little confused by “6-7.”
“Don’t worry, because we’re all still trying to figure out exactly what this means,” the site said in its announcement this week.
How did “6-7” become a thing?
AP AUDIO: Dictionary.com’s word of the year is “6-7.” But is it really a word and what does it mean?
AP correspondent Ed Donahue reports on a trending term that no one really knows what it means.
It all seems to go back to rapper Skrilla’s 2024 song called “Doot Doot (6-7).”
This song began appearing in TikTok videos with basketball players, including the NBA’s LaMelo Ball who is 6 feet 7 inches tall.
Then a boy, now known as “The 6-7 Kid,” shouted the ubiquitous phrase while another child next to him juggled his hands in a video that went viral this year.
That’s all it took.
So what does “6-7” mean?
The real answer is that no one knows.
And sometimes it depends on who gets the “6-7”.
Even how to write “6-7” is up for debate: is it “6 7” or “six seven?” »
According to Dictionary.com, the phrase could mean “like this” or “maybe this, maybe that” when combined with the juggling hand gesture.
Merriam-Webster calls it “a nonsense phrase used especially by teens and tweens.”
Some simply use it to frustrate adults when questioned.
“It’s meaningless, ubiquitous and absurd. In other words, it has all the hallmarks of brainrot,” Dictionary.com said. “Nevertheless, it remains meaningful to the people who use it because of the connection it fosters.”
How did the rest of the world react?
Parents and teachers have created their own videos to try to explain this feeling.
Some offer tips to stop their children from repeating this all day. Others suggest embracing it – even making “6-7” Halloween costumes – so it doesn’t become cool.
The teachers banned it. Influencers and child psychologists have tried to make sense of it.
This has even spread to the NFL to celebrate big plays.
Why is it the word of the year?
Dictionary.com claims to look for words that influence the way we speak to each other and communicate online.
The site scoured search engines, headlines and social media trends to make its choice. Online searches for “6-7” exploded dramatically over the summer, he said, and haven’t slowed down, increasing six times since June.
“The word of the year is not just about popular usage; it reveals the stories we tell about ourselves and how we have changed over the year,” the site says.
