Dictionary.com’s Word of the Year Is ‘6-7.’ Is It a Word? And What Does It Mean?

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – In a move that has left parents, teachers, and linguistic purists across the English-speaking world collectively shrugging their shoulders, juggling their hands in the air, and perhaps quietly rolling their eyes, Dictionary.com has crowned its 2025 word of the year. The selection, an annual tradition intended to serve as a "linguistic time capsule," is not a term born from the hallowed halls of politics, the complex corridors of science, or the dramatic arenas of global events. It is not, in fact, even a word.

The word of the year is "6-7," a viral, nonsensical, and utterly bewildering two-digit catchphrase that has exploded out of the digital ether to become the ubiquitous inside joke of a generation, a term that has children and teenagers erupting in laughter while leaving adults in a state of profound and often frustrated confusion.

The selection of a term that defies easy definition—or any definition at all—is a bold and perhaps perplexing choice for an institution dedicated to the clarity and codification of language.

Yet, as detailed in a report by The Associated Press, Dictionary.com argues that the significance of "6-7" lies not in its meaning, but in its massive cultural impact and what it reveals about the nature of communication, connection, and the strange, often absurd, ways language evolves in the hyper-connected age of social media.

The Unraveling of a Viral Mystery

The journey of "6-7" from obscurity to linguistic stardom is a thoroughly modern tale, a case study in the chaotic and unpredictable power of a TikTok trend.

According to the Associated Press, the phenomenon appears to trace its origins back to a 2024 song by the rapper Skrilla, titled "Doot Doot (6-7)." Like many nascent trends, the song began to bubble up in the vast ecosystem of TikTok, finding a niche in videos featuring basketball players.

Its association with the sport was cemented by its connection to players like the NBA's LaMelo Ball, who stands at a towering 6-foot-7, giving the numbers an initial, though ultimately fleeting, concrete reference point.

But the spark that truly ignited the wildfire was a single, now-legendary video that went viral this year.

The short clip featured a boy, now known to the internet as "The 6-7 Kid," who, with an almost primal sense of comedic timing, simply shouted the phrase "6-7" while another youth beside him frantically juggled his hands.

That was it!

As the AP report notes, "That's all it took." The combination of the abrupt, nonsensical phrase and the equally bizarre hand gesture created a perfect storm of memetic energy.

The video was endlessly copied, remixed, and parodied, and the phrase "6-7" broke free from its niche origins to become a full-blown cultural sensation, a secret handshake for millions of young people.

The Quest for a Meaning That Isn't There

The central and most maddening question for the uninitiated is, of course, what does "6-7" actually mean? The frustratingly simple answer, according to the Associated Press, is that "no one knows."

Its power, it seems, lies precisely in its ambiguity. It is a linguistic blank canvas onto which a generation has projected a universe of inside jokes and shared experiences. Even the proper way to write the term is a matter of debate—is it "6-7," "6 7," or spelled out as "six seven?"

Dictionary.com, in its announcement, acknowledged its own bewilderment.

"Don’t worry, because we’re all still trying to figure out exactly what it means," the site admitted. It offered a few potential interpretations, suggesting that, when accompanied by the signature juggling hands gesture, the phrase could be interpreted as "so-so" or "maybe this, maybe that," a noncommittal shrug in numerical form.

Its rival, Merriam-Webster, has offered its own definition, calling it "a nonsensical expression used especially by teens and tweens."

For many young people, however, the term's most potent function is as a tool of playful rebellion, a way to gently frustrate and befuddle the adult world. When faced with a question from a parent or teacher, a response of "6-7" can be a disarming, humorous, and utterly impenetrable conversational dead end.

Dictionary.com itself seemed to embrace this chaotic quality, describing the term with a certain academic admiration.

"It’s meaningless, ubiquitous, and nonsensical. In other words, it has all the hallmarks of brainrot," the site declared, using a modern slang term for low-quality, endlessly consumable internet content. Yet, it immediately pivoted to the deeper social significance: "Still, it remains meaningful to the people who use it because of the connection it fosters.”

A Generational Divide and a Cultural Phenomenon

The explosive popularity of "6-7" has created a stark and often comical generational divide.

As children and teenagers have adopted the phrase into their daily lexicon, parents and educators have scrambled to make sense of the phenomenon. The AP reports that the internet is now awash with videos created by adults attempting to explain the sensation to their equally confused peers.

Some offer practical tips on how to get their kids to stop repeating it all day long. Others, in a clever act of reverse psychology, suggest that parents should embrace the trend themselves, perhaps even making "6-7" Halloween costumes, in the hope that adult adoption will render it instantly uncool and obsolete.

In more structured environments, the reaction has been less amused.

Some teachers, driven to distraction by the constant repetition, have outright banned the phrase from their classrooms. Meanwhile, a cottage industry of influencers and child psychologists has emerged, attempting to analyze and make sense of the trend.

The phrase has even transcended the schoolyard and the internet, spilling over into the world of professional sports, where NFL players have been seen using it as a way to celebrate big plays on the field, a testament to its pervasive cultural reach.

Justifying the Choice: A Reflection of Our Times

So why would a dictionary, an arbiter of language, choose a nonsensical, two-digit phrase as its word of the year? According to the Associated Press, Dictionary.com's selection process looks beyond traditional definitions to find words that "influence how we talk with each other and communicate online."

The site scoured search engines, news headlines, and social media trends, and the data for "6-7" was overwhelming. Online searches for the term "took off dramatically over the summer," the site reported, and have not slowed down, growing by an astonishing six times since June.

The selection is ultimately an act of cultural anthropology. "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," the site explained.

In this sense, "6-7" is a perfect, if unconventional, linguistic time capsule for 2025. It tells a story not of a single event, but of a cultural landscape dominated by the mechanics of viral social media, the power of youth culture to shape language from the bottom up, and the rise of a form of communication that prioritizes shared absurdity and in-group connection over literal meaning.

It is a word born not in a newsroom or a laboratory, but in the chaotic, creative, and often bewildering crucible of the internet.