"brain rot" meaning in English

See brain rot in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈbɹeɪn ˌɹɒt/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈbɹeɪn ˌɹɑt/ [General-American] Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-brain rot.wav Forms: brain-rot [alternative], brainrot [alternative]
Etymology: From brain + rot. First attested in Henry David Thoreau’s book Walden (1854). See cite below. Etymology templates: {{com|en|brain|rot}} brain + rot Head templates: {{en-noun|-}} brain rot (uncountable)
  1. (derogatory) The degradation of mental faculties, intelligence, common sense, or moral character. Tags: derogatory, uncountable Coordinate_terms: brain damage
    Sense id: en-brain_rot-en-noun-en:degradation_of_brain_or_mind_function
  2. (slang, derogatory) Any form of media content that is deemed to hold little artistic value or negatively impact those who consume it. Tags: derogatory, slang, uncountable Coordinate_terms: brain candy, ;, junk food news, junk news, ;, fake news Translations (media deemed to hold little artistic value or negatively impact those who consume it): تعفن الدماغ [masculine] (Arabic), beyin çürüməsi (Azerbaijani), enhavaĉo (Esperanto), aivomätä (Finnish), brain rot [masculine] (French), putrefacción cerebral [feminine] (Galician), putrescencia cerebral [feminine] (Galician), heilafúi [masculine] (Icelandic), pembusukan otak (Indonesian), reput otak (Malay), brainrot [masculine] (Polish), brainrot [masculine] (Portuguese), apodrecimento cerebral [masculine] (Portuguese), гниение мозга (gnijenije mozga) (Russian), putrefacción cerebral [feminine] (Spanish), podredumbre cerebral [feminine] (Spanish), podredura cerebral [feminine] (Spanish), podre cerebral [feminine] (Spanish), pudrición cerebral [feminine] (Spanish), pudrimiento cerebral [masculine] (Spanish), podrimiento cerebral [masculine] (Spanish), hjärnröta [common-gender] (Swedish), thối não (Vietnamese)
    Sense id: en-brain_rot-en-noun-en:low_quality_media_content Disambiguation of 'media deemed to hold little artistic value or negatively impact those who consume it': 1 90 8
  3. (fandom slang, derogatory or self-deprecatory) The state of being obsessed with a particular work of media, particularly to an extent considered to be embarrassing. Tags: slang, uncountable Coordinate_terms: standom
    Sense id: en-brain_rot-en-noun-en:excessive_fan_appreciation Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Arabic translations, Terms with Azerbaijani translations, Terms with Esperanto translations, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with Galician translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Icelandic translations, Terms with Indonesian translations, Terms with Malay translations, Terms with Polish translations, Terms with Portuguese translations, Terms with Russian translations, Terms with Spanish translations, Terms with Swedish translations, Terms with Thai translations, Terms with Vietnamese translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 28 11 61 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 13 8 79 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 28 7 65 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 23 15 62 Disambiguation of Terms with Arabic translations: 15 14 71 Disambiguation of Terms with Azerbaijani translations: 15 17 68 Disambiguation of Terms with Esperanto translations: 15 12 73 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 15 14 71 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 13 13 75 Disambiguation of Terms with Galician translations: 15 14 71 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 15 14 71 Disambiguation of Terms with Icelandic translations: 15 14 71 Disambiguation of Terms with Indonesian translations: 15 17 68 Disambiguation of Terms with Malay translations: 15 17 68 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 13 13 74 Disambiguation of Terms with Portuguese translations: 15 17 68 Disambiguation of Terms with Russian translations: 13 11 76 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 13 13 74 Disambiguation of Terms with Swedish translations: 14 13 72 Disambiguation of Terms with Thai translations: 14 22 64 Disambiguation of Terms with Vietnamese translations: 15 17 68 Topics: lifestyle
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: brainrotted, Italian brainrot Related terms: gut rot

Alternative forms

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          "text": "While England endeavors to cure the potato-rot, will not any endeavor to cure the brain-rot, which prevails so much more widely and fatally?",
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          "ref": "2020 January, Joanna Ellner, “Diary Of A Mum: Part 6”, in Baby, published 2019, page 61:",
          "text": "I carried with me a vague awareness of the political state of the world. I had actual views on things. I made mid-conversation gags that mostly paid off. And yet, four months into babyland and I have reached brain rot.",
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          "ref": "1978, Lionel Menuhin Rolfe, The Menuhins: A Family Odyssey, page 47:",
          "text": "[…] I remember that I had to stay home and receive a stern lecture on the evils of Tinseltown brainrot.",
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          "ref": "2003, Tom Cox, Educating Peter, page 111:",
          "text": "It could be a great album, like Big Star’s Radio City, or it could be one composed entirely of what I deemed to be drab, scum-sucking brainrot, like The Stereophonics’ Performance And Cocktails.",
          "type": "quotation"
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        {
          "ref": "2011, John Vannisselroy, \"Reality bites: we need less English Premier League\", TNT Magazine, 15 August 2011 - 21 August 2011, page 52",
          "text": "So this winter, I'll chill on the couch watching The Only Way Is Essex or some similar brainrot instead, happy it'll be over in a hour […]"
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          "ref": "2023, Nunzio Amon, “The Future of Gen Alpha”, in Medium:",
          "text": "We need to hold out hope and wish for the best for Gen Alpha as they are truly capable. But with the polarization of the current times and brainrot they are encountering online, it’s hard.",
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          "ref": "2024 February 8, Shivé Prema, “What is 'brain rot'? Do you have it?”, in SBS News:",
          "text": "Implicit in the idea of brain rot is the fear that those who spend too much time on screens will become less intelligent, such as 'iPad Kids', Gen Z and Gen Alpha children raised in the digital age.",
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          "sense": "media deemed to hold little artistic value or negatively impact those who consume it",
          "tags": [
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          "word": "تعفن الدماغ"
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          "text": "Jojo^([sic]) brain rot is real because why have I just spent the last 10 minutes thinking who'd be better at parallel parking-",
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          "ref": "2024 July 19, @TFMSW, Twitter:",
          "text": "I said they both can't act, I still liked the prequels and the acolyte, but it could just be the star wars brain rot that got me lol",
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  "wikipedia": [
    "Henry David Thoreau",
    "Walden"
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  "word": "brain rot"
}
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    "Terms with Polish translations",
    "Terms with Portuguese translations",
    "Terms with Russian translations",
    "Terms with Spanish translations",
    "Terms with Swedish translations",
    "Terms with Thai translations",
    "Terms with Vietnamese translations"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "brainrotted"
    },
    {
      "word": "Italian brainrot"
    }
  ],
  "descendants": [
    {
      "lang": "Vietnamese",
      "lang_code": "vi",
      "tags": [
        "calque",
        "calque"
      ],
      "word": "thối não"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "brain",
        "3": "rot"
      },
      "expansion": "brain + rot",
      "name": "com"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From brain + rot. First attested in Henry David Thoreau’s book Walden (1854). See cite below.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "brain-rot",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "brainrot",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "brain rot (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "gut rot"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English derogatory terms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "coordinate_terms": [
        {
          "word": "brain damage"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              82,
              91
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1854 August 9, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “Conclusion”, in Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 348:",
          "text": "While England endeavors to cure the potato-rot, will not any endeavor to cure the brain-rot, which prevails so much more widely and fatally?",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              82,
              91
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2016 April, Tom Royer, “Rated M for Millennials”, in Mankato Magazine, published 2017, page 25:",
          "text": "And then our parents decided that comics books were to blame for their children's brain rot, tossing most of these halftone gems in the garbage.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              208,
              217
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2020 January, Joanna Ellner, “Diary Of A Mum: Part 6”, in Baby, published 2019, page 61:",
          "text": "I carried with me a vague awareness of the political state of the world. I had actual views on things. I made mid-conversation gags that mostly paid off. And yet, four months into babyland and I have reached brain rot.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The degradation of mental faculties, intelligence, common sense, or moral character."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "derogatory",
          "derogatory"
        ],
        [
          "degradation",
          "degradation"
        ],
        [
          "intelligence",
          "intelligence"
        ],
        [
          "common sense",
          "common sense"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(derogatory) The degradation of mental faculties, intelligence, common sense, or moral character."
      ],
      "senseid": [
        "en:degradation of brain or mind function"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "derogatory",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English derogatory terms",
        "English slang",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "coordinate_terms": [
        {
          "word": "brain candy"
        },
        {
          "word": ";"
        },
        {
          "word": "junk food news"
        },
        {
          "word": "junk news"
        },
        {
          "word": ";"
        },
        {
          "word": "fake news"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              94,
              102
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1978, Lionel Menuhin Rolfe, The Menuhins: A Family Odyssey, page 47:",
          "text": "[…] I remember that I had to stay home and receive a stern lecture on the evils of Tinseltown brainrot.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              134,
              142
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2003, Tom Cox, Educating Peter, page 111:",
          "text": "It could be a great album, like Big Star’s Radio City, or it could be one composed entirely of what I deemed to be drab, scum-sucking brainrot, like The Stereophonics’ Performance And Cocktails.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2011, John Vannisselroy, \"Reality bites: we need less English Premier League\", TNT Magazine, 15 August 2011 - 21 August 2011, page 52",
          "text": "So this winter, I'll chill on the couch watching The Only Way Is Essex or some similar brainrot instead, happy it'll be over in a hour […]"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              139,
              147
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2023, Nunzio Amon, “The Future of Gen Alpha”, in Medium:",
          "text": "We need to hold out hope and wish for the best for Gen Alpha as they are truly capable. But with the polarization of the current times and brainrot they are encountering online, it’s hard.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              24,
              33
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2024 February 8, Shivé Prema, “What is 'brain rot'? Do you have it?”, in SBS News:",
          "text": "Implicit in the idea of brain rot is the fear that those who spend too much time on screens will become less intelligent, such as 'iPad Kids', Gen Z and Gen Alpha children raised in the digital age.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Any form of media content that is deemed to hold little artistic value or negatively impact those who consume it."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "derogatory",
          "derogatory"
        ],
        [
          "media",
          "media"
        ],
        [
          "content",
          "content"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang, derogatory) Any form of media content that is deemed to hold little artistic value or negatively impact those who consume it."
      ],
      "senseid": [
        "en:low-quality media content"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "derogatory",
        "slang",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English derogatory terms",
        "English fandom slang",
        "English self-deprecatory terms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "coordinate_terms": [
        {
          "word": "standom"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              13,
              22
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2024 July 8, LeiaThompson3, Twitter:",
          "text": "Jojo^([sic]) brain rot is real because why have I just spent the last 10 minutes thinking who'd be better at parallel parking-",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              107,
              116
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2024 July 19, @TFMSW, Twitter:",
          "text": "I said they both can't act, I still liked the prequels and the acolyte, but it could just be the star wars brain rot that got me lol",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The state of being obsessed with a particular work of media, particularly to an extent considered to be embarrassing."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "fandom",
          "fandom"
        ],
        [
          "derogatory",
          "derogatory"
        ],
        [
          "self-deprecatory",
          "self-deprecatory"
        ],
        [
          "obsessed",
          "obsessed"
        ],
        [
          "embarrassing",
          "embarrassing"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "derogatory or self-deprecatory",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(fandom slang, derogatory or self-deprecatory) The state of being obsessed with a particular work of media, particularly to an extent considered to be embarrassing."
      ],
      "senseid": [
        "en:excessive fan appreciation"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "lifestyle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈbɹeɪn ˌɹɒt/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈbɹeɪn ˌɹɑt/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-brain rot.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/12/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-brain_rot.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-brain_rot.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/12/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-brain_rot.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Flame%2C_not_lame-brain_rot.wav.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "ar",
      "lang": "Arabic",
      "lang_code": "ar",
      "sense": "media deemed to hold little artistic value or negatively impact those who consume it",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "تعفن الدماغ"
    },
    {
      "code": "az",
      "lang": "Azerbaijani",
      "lang_code": "az",
      "sense": "media deemed to hold little artistic value or negatively impact those who consume it",
      "word": "beyin çürüməsi"
    },
    {
      "code": "eo",
      "lang": "Esperanto",
      "lang_code": "eo",
      "sense": "media deemed to hold little artistic value or negatively impact those who consume it",
      "word": "enhavaĉo"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "media deemed to hold little artistic value or negatively impact those who consume it",
      "word": "aivomätä"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "lang_code": "fr",
      "sense": "media deemed to hold little artistic value or negatively impact those who consume it",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "brain rot"
    },
    {
      "code": "gl",
      "lang": "Galician",
      "lang_code": "gl",
      "sense": "media deemed to hold little artistic value or negatively impact those who consume it",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "putrefacción cerebral"
    },
    {
      "code": "gl",
      "lang": "Galician",
      "lang_code": "gl",
      "sense": "media deemed to hold little artistic value or negatively impact those who consume it",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "putrescencia cerebral"
    },
    {
      "code": "is",
      "lang": "Icelandic",
      "lang_code": "is",
      "sense": "media deemed to hold little artistic value or negatively impact those who consume it",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "heilafúi"
    },
    {
      "code": "id",
      "lang": "Indonesian",
      "lang_code": "id",
      "sense": "media deemed to hold little artistic value or negatively impact those who consume it",
      "word": "pembusukan otak"
    },
    {
      "code": "ms",
      "lang": "Malay",
      "lang_code": "ms",
      "sense": "media deemed to hold little artistic value or negatively impact those who consume it",
      "word": "reput otak"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "media deemed to hold little artistic value or negatively impact those who consume it",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "brainrot"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "lang_code": "pt",
      "sense": "media deemed to hold little artistic value or negatively impact those who consume it",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "brainrot"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "lang_code": "pt",
      "sense": "media deemed to hold little artistic value or negatively impact those who consume it",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "apodrecimento cerebral"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "gnijenije mozga",
      "sense": "media deemed to hold little artistic value or negatively impact those who consume it",
      "word": "гниение мозга"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "media deemed to hold little artistic value or negatively impact those who consume it",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "putrefacción cerebral"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "media deemed to hold little artistic value or negatively impact those who consume it",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "podredumbre cerebral"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "media deemed to hold little artistic value or negatively impact those who consume it",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "podredura cerebral"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "media deemed to hold little artistic value or negatively impact those who consume it",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "podre cerebral"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "media deemed to hold little artistic value or negatively impact those who consume it",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "pudrición cerebral"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "media deemed to hold little artistic value or negatively impact those who consume it",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "pudrimiento cerebral"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "media deemed to hold little artistic value or negatively impact those who consume it",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "podrimiento cerebral"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "lang_code": "sv",
      "sense": "media deemed to hold little artistic value or negatively impact those who consume it",
      "tags": [
        "common-gender"
      ],
      "word": "hjärnröta"
    },
    {
      "code": "vi",
      "lang": "Vietnamese",
      "lang_code": "vi",
      "sense": "media deemed to hold little artistic value or negatively impact those who consume it",
      "word": "thối não"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Henry David Thoreau",
    "Walden"
  ],
  "word": "brain rot"
}

Download raw JSONL data for brain rot meaning in English (11.9kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-01-13 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-01-01 using wiktextract (96027d6 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.