'67' is the word of the year, according to Dictionary.com

Dictionary.com's Word of the Year 2025 is 6-7. To select it, lexicographers analyzed a wealth of data, including news headlines, social media trends and search engine results, to identify words that had a significant impact on conversations both online and in the real world.

"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. And for these reasons, Dictionary.com’s 2025 Word of the Year is 67," the website explained.

According to the Word of the Year report, searches for the number 67 saw a dramatic surge beginning in the summer of 2025. Since June, searches have increased more than sixfold, and so far, the upward trend shows no signs of slowing.

Similarly, Dictionary.com noted that most other two-digit numbers showed no significant trend during that period, suggesting that “there’s something special about 67.”

Where did the trend come from?

The origin of the modern use of "67" is believed to come from the song Doot Doot (6 7) by Skrilla. It can also appear written as 6 7, 6-7 or six-seven, although it should never be pronounced as "sixty-seven."

Its popularity surged thanks to viral TikTok videos featuring basketball players and a boy who has become known as the Child of ‘67. Within weeks, teachers were sharing strategies online to prevent their students from constantly saying “six seven.”

What does it mean?

One of the most frequently asked questions about the word is its meaning. Dictionary.com noted that it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what the number refers to. For some, it means “more or less” or “maybe this, maybe that,” especially when accompanied by the characteristic hand gesture, where both palms face up and move alternately up and down.

"Some youngsters, sensing an opportunity to reliably frustrate their elders, will use it to stand in for a reply to just about any question. (“Hello, darling child, how was school today?” “67!”) A perfectly timed 67 signals that you’re part of an in-group and if you’re already using its emerging spinoffs six-sendy and 41, you might be even cooler," the site highlighted.

Dictionary.com noted that “67” is defined by its “impossibility of definition”: it is absurd, ubiquitous and insignificant. “It’s the logical endpoint of being perpetually online, scrolling endlessly, consuming content fed to users by algorithms trained by other algorithms.”