On October 31, 2025, Dictionary.com made an announcement that left many scratching their heads and others grinning with recognition: the viral teen slang "6-7" (pronounced six-seven, not sixty-seven) was officially named the 2025 Word of the Year. The decision, which followed a more than sixfold spike in searches for the phrase since June, captured a cultural moment defined by rapid online spread, generational in-jokes, and the ever-evolving nature of language in the digital age.
Dictionary.com’s lexicographers explained their process, noting that the Word of the Year is never just about what’s popular. "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 declared in its announcement, as reported by USA Today and WDNews. This year, those stories are as slippery as the meaning of "6-7" itself.
What, exactly, does "6-7" mean? That’s the million-dollar question—and, it turns out, part of the term’s charm. According to Dictionary.com, its meaning remains ambiguous and intentionally vague. Some users employ it to mean "so-so" or "maybe this, maybe that," often paired with a signature hand gesture: both palms face up, moving alternately up and down, as if weighing two invisible objects. Others use it as a deliberately meaningless sign, a wink to fellow insiders or a way to gently frustrate adults. Merriam-Webster chimed in, calling it "a nonsensical expression used especially by teens and tweens."
The phrase’s flexibility is a big part of its appeal. As Quartz observed, "Honestly, no one really seems to know, including the people saying it. But it's being said SO much that it has just been named the word of the year by Dictionary.com. And no, they're not sure about its meaning either." Even Dictionary.com admitted in its press release, "Don’t worry, because we’re all still trying to figure out exactly what it means." The site went on to describe "6-7" as "meaningless, ubiquitous, and nonsensical," adding that these very qualities are what give it power in a media landscape shaped by algorithms and cultural churn.
The modern spread of "6-7" can be traced to several viral moments. Its roots go back to December 2024, when rapper Skrilla released the song "Doot Doot (6 7)," featuring the lyric "6-7." The phrase began to take off after a TikTok user overlaid the song’s lyric onto a video of Charlotte Hornets point guard LaMelo Ball—who, fittingly, is 6-foot-7—sparking a meme that would rack up more than 10 million views by late October 2025, according to USA Today. The meme gained further momentum in March, when a video from an Amateur Athletic Union basketball game featured a boy, now dubbed the "6-7 Kid," exclaiming the phrase and performing the signature hand gesture. That moment cemented "6-7" in the Gen Alpha lexicon and propelled it into classrooms and comment sections across the country.
Social media, of course, did the rest. TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube were soon flooded with clips of teens joking, shrugging, or simply responding "6-7" to any number of situations. The phrase became a way to express indifference, a decent performance, or just a half-hearted response to something neither great nor terrible. As one viral fast food video showed, even a cashier calling out ticket number 6-7 could spark a moment of connection, with strangers bonding over the shared joke.
The phenomenon didn’t go unnoticed by adults. Parents and teachers responded with a mix of exasperation and fascination. Some teachers banned the expression outright, while others tried to harness its energy for classroom engagement. In September, kindergarten teacher Sara James posted a TikTok of her class counting to ten; when they reached six and seven, she and her students did the hand motion as the children shouted "6-7" with glee. "Hey, whatever they like, I'm down for," James wrote in her caption. "As long as it keeps them engaged." According to WDNews, some adults saw the trend as a sign of how language is constantly evolving online, where humor, rhythm, and community often matter more than strict definitions.
Steve Johnson, Director of Lexicography for Dictionary Media Group, captured the spirit of the moment in a statement: "It’s part inside joke, part social signal, and part performance. When people say it, they’re not just repeating a meme; they’re shouting a feeling. It’s one of the first Words of the Year that works as an interjection – a burst of energy that spreads and connects people long before anyone agrees on what it actually means."
The phrase’s reach extended even further when it appeared in the Season 28 premiere of South Park. The character Butters Stotch wandered his elementary school, telling "6-7" jokes to friends, all of whom replied with the phrase and the now-famous hand gesture. If that’s not a sign of cultural saturation, what is?
Dictionary.com’s selection of "6-7" as Word of the Year also reflects broader trends in language and culture. The site noted that nontraditional items—symbols, numbers, even emojis—are increasingly functioning as words in digital speech. Among this year’s finalists were "agentic" (referencing autonomous AI), "aura farming" (curating one’s online presence), "broligarchy" (a critique of a homogenous elite), "clanker" (an AI-related slur), the dynamite emoji (used for a celebrity couple), "Gen Z stare," "kiss cam," "overtourism," "tariff," and "tradwife." The selection of "6-7" highlights how ephemeral, meme-driven slang can serve as a linguistic time capsule, documenting not just how people communicate, but what preoccupies them in a given year.
Language experts say that such fleeting expressions often mark deeper social shifts. As Dictionary.com put it, "A perfectly timed 6-7 signals that you’re part of an in-group," reflecting the speed at which younger generations enter and reshape global online conversations. The term’s permutations—like "six-sendy" and "41"—are already popping up, showing how quickly digital language mutates.
Of course, not everyone is thrilled by the rise of "6-7." Some parents and teachers remain puzzled or even concerned about the term’s rapid spread among students. Others, however, see it as a harmless (if baffling) example of youth carving out their own space in a world that’s always changing. As with "tubular," "chav," or "bussin" in years past, "6-7" may eventually fade from memory. But for now, it’s the phrase that sums up 2025—an inside joke, a shrug, and a sign of the times, all wrapped up in two little numbers.
Whether "6-7" means "so-so," "maybe," or simply "I’m in on the joke," one thing is clear: in a year defined by uncertainty and constant change, sometimes the most powerful words are the ones that mean everything and nothing, all at once.
