What does '67' mean? Dictionary.com's 2025 word of the year has no definition

Dictionary.com has crowned a set of numbers as its 2025 word of the year.

It says it reserves that distinction for a word that reflects "social trends and global events that defined that year" and "reveals the stories we tell about ourselves and how we've changed over the year." The word of the year is both viral vernacular and a linguistic time capsule (last year's, for example, was "demure").

This year, that honor goes to "67" — pronounced "six seven" — a slang term that's been delighting kids, exasperating teachers and befuddling adults for months.

It has its roots in the song "Doot Doot (6 7)", which Philadelphia-based rapper Skrilla released last December.

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"The way that switch brrt, I know he dyin' … 6-7, I just bipped right on the highway," Skrilla says, using a verb that in hip-hop can describe anything from a car smash-and-grab to smooth driving to general swag.

But it was the phrase "67" that took off. It was popularized online largely through viral TikToks of basketball highlights including of LaMelo Ball, the Charlotte Hornets point guard who happens to stand 6 feet, 7 inches tall.

Then other big-name basketball players, including LeBron James and Paige Bueckers, started using the term in interviews. It spread to other sports and, before long, schools across the country. Gen Alpha typically delivers it in a slow drawl with an accompanying hand motion: raising one upturned palm at a time for each number, as if weighing two items.

"Now it is something that you're just trying to use to get somebody to reference the number 67 like … 'How tall are you?'… 'what time is it?' … 'what's that?'" middle school teacher and comedian Philip Lindsay, who first posted about the trend back in February, said in an August Instagram video. "There is literally no circumstance where a kid might not say 67."

Dictionary.com says searches for 67 surged over the summer, increasing "more than sixfold" since June with no signs of stopping. The term has inspired musical mashups, a recent South Park plotline and plenty of (somewhat cringe) Halloween costumes.

"67 shows the speed at which a new word can rocket around the world as a rising generation enters the global conversation," its announcement reads.

Lindsay approves of the choice, telling NPR over email that 67 is "definitely THE word of 2025." He says that while kids tend to lose interest in memes over time, especially as they move across generations, this one has held staying power for nearly the entire year — though its new accolade could potentially change that. 

"I would imagine after this designation and more people using it, that it is going to start to become cringe to the younger generation," he wrote. "However, I do think that because they are numbers that are seen everywhere, it is going to live on for quite some time in classrooms and in the minds of Gen Alpha." 

But what does it actually mean?

Depends on who you ask 

Dictionary.com says: "Perhaps the most defining feature of 67 is that it's impossible to define."

"It's meaningless, ubiquitous, and nonsensical," it adds. "It's the logical endpoint of being perpetually online, scrolling endlessly, consuming content fed to users by algorithms trained by other algorithms."

In other words, the defining world of the year has no real meaning or definition.

Even Skrilla, the rapper who coined the term, told XXL magazine this week that he left it intentionally vague, though it initially had a negative connotation.

"67 changed from a negative thing to a positive," he said. "[It's] millions of other things for other people. Everybody got they own meaning to it, 'cause I never put a real meaning on it."

Ball, the 6-foot-7 basketball player, similarly struggled to define it when asked in a September TikTok.

"It's really nothing though, for real," the 24-year-old said. "Just six seven."

Still, as Dictionary.com says, the term's meaning lies in the connection it fosters. It's basically one big inside joke, at least for participants of a certain age.

"67 is meaningless in content, but it's not meaningless in feeling," parenting expert Becky Kennedy said in an Instagram video earlier this month. "Think about when you were a kid. What's more powerful than feeling like you belong?"

Evidently, that feeling is powerful enough to propel 67 to the word of the year — beating out a shortlist of contenders including broligarchy, clanker, tradwife and tariff.

Lindsay says he's gotten "countless" messages from parents who have connected with their kids "over a 6-7 and have been able to have meaningful conversations as a result." He hopes others will embrace it similarly. 

"Every trending meme or word is a connection point between adults and the adolescents in their life," he adds. "My advice is always, know what is going on and use it to bridge gaps with the kids in your life."
Copyright 2025 NPR