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Dictionary.com has revealed its Word of the Year, and it is a phrase that Gen Alpha will instantly recognize. The website announced Oct. 28 that after narrowing down its shortlist of nominees, the word, or term, of 2025 is “67.” Every year, the website chooses a word or phrase that reflects “pivotal moments in language and culture.” “These words serve as a linguistic time capsule, reflecting social trends and global events that defined the year,” Dictionary.com explained. “The Word of the Year isn’t just about popular usage; it reveals the stories we tell about ourselves and how we’ve changed over the year.” It’s no surprise “67” was selected as the viral phrase has popped up all over TikTok. The slang was even the focus of a recent sketch on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” where the host and singer Charlie Puth repeated the phrase while pretending to be two live streamers. Not sure what it means? Well, TODAY.com did a deep dive into the world of Gen Alpha to find out the meaning behind the trend, which has racked up over 2 million related videos on TikTok featuring the slang, and how it started. The origin of 67 seems to stem from December 2024, when hip hop artist Skrilla released a song called “Doot Doot” in which he raps “6-7, I just bipped right on the highway (bip, bip).” Teacher and education content creator Mr. Lindsay, who has labeled himself the “OG Student Translator” explained in an August TikTok video how 67 then blew up on social media. “This meme goes viral. Everybody is making edits, everybody is saying ‘six seven,’ all of these content creators are starting to put ‘six seven’ into all of their things,” he said. He added, “So, all of this to say, ‘six seven’ is just a reference to a meme. There’s no real meaning to it. It is a number that is fun to say … with the hand motions, and it just doesn’t mean anything.” Some of the other words that appeared on Dictionary.com’s shortlist were agentic, aura farming, broligarchy (a combination of bro and oligarchy), clanker, the dynamite emoji, Gen Z stare, kiss cam, overtourism, tariff and tradwife.
