What is ‘67’ and how it did it go from internet slang to word of the year?

Yup, this number is officially Dictionary.com's Word of the Year. And mind you, it's six seven, not sixty seven.

Oct 31, 2025

At this point, I think Gen Z has collectively reached a state of slang exhaustion. Every few weeks, the internet spits out a new word that sounds like it was generated by a toddler mashing a keyboard, and somehow we are all just supposed to get it. We have survived the “delulu” era, pretended to understand what “NPC energy” meant, and even learnt to use “rizz” in our day-to-day language, ironically. But now? Dictionary.com’s Word of the Year is ‘six seven.’ Not sixty-seven, six seven. Two separate numbers that sound more like a locker combination or a grammatical error. And, somewhere, Shakespeare is weeping into his quill, and honestly? I might join him.

But, as ridiculous as it might sound, six-seven actually makes perfect sense. It’s not really a word per se, it’s a tone, a verbal shrug. Originating from the song ‘Doot Doot’ (6 7) by Skrilla, which later on became popular throughout fan-cam video edits of basketball players, means everything and nothing all at once, like saying “yeah…kinda?” without actually committing to an opinion. It’s honestly peak internet energy, vague, ironic, and completely unserious. Being immortalised by Dictionary.com just proves that we have entered a new era of language, one where words don’t really have to make sense, as long as they feel right.

According to Dictionary.com, “six seven” (also written as 6-7 or 67) is a “viral, ambiguous slang term that has waffled its way through Gen Alpha’s social media and school hallways.” This means no one really knows what it means, but everyone’s using it anyway. The site describes it as “largely nonsensical,” though some interpret it as a casual “so-so” or “maybe this, maybe that,” usually accompanied by a hand gesture where both palms face up and alternate up and down like a confused scale. It’s also used as a random response to any question, from “How tall are you?” to “How are you feeling today?” or “What’s your take on this?” The answer, apparently, is “six seven.”

But beneath this absurdity lies something weirdly profound, and honestly, very 2025. The rise of six seven says a lot about our generation’s relationship with meaning itself. We have grown up in a world where everything ends up becoming content, emotions get memefied, and sincerity feels a little cringe. It’s literally the verbal equivalent of a shrug, detached, ironic, but somehow honest. In a world where everyone’s constantly sharing how they feel, “six seven” feels like a quiet rebellion, in its own way. It lets you participate in the conversation without revealing too much, or “trauma dumping.” You’re not happy, not sad, just “six seven.” Somewhere in the middle, existing, coping, doomscrolling.

Psychologists might call it emotional protection. But, for most people online, it's a way to stay sane. When every word you post online can be taken out of context or screen-captured, sincerity starts to feel risky. Irony becomes a survival tool for most as it ends up being the perfect armour for one, casual, funny, yet safe. This shift isn’t new; it’s part of a larger generational pattern. For younger audiences, detachment has become a kind of emotional currency. Being too earnest feels uncomfortable; being vague feels relatable. “Six seven” captures that balance: detached enough to be cool, but real enough to connect. It’s a language born from hyper-connectivity, from growing up in a world that never stops demanding reactions, takes, and feelings.

So yes, maybe it’s absurd that two random numbers have become a linguistic phenomenon. But maybe that’s exactly what makes it so fitting. Because the internet didn’t just change how we communicate, it changed what communication means. “Six seven” is, in a way, a reflection of our times: fluid, uncertain, and self-aware enough to laugh about it.

Lead Image: Netflix

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What is ‘67’ and how it did it go from internet slang to word of the year?

Yup, this number is officially Dictionary.com's Word of the Year. And mind you, it's six seven, not sixty seven.

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