Merriam-Webster has picked 'slop' as the word of the year. 'Slop' refers to digital content of low quality that is usually produced in large quantities by means of artificial intelligence.
In the 1970s, the term 'slop' was originally sensed as 'soft mud'. However, in the 1800s, it meant as food waste, and at later times, it meant 'rubbish' in general.
"In 2025, amid all the buzz over AI threats, slop set a tone that’s less fearful, more mocking," Merriam-Webster stated on its website.
Lookup data reveals other words that topped in Merriam-Webster chart in 2025.
They are: Gerrymander, Touch Grass, Performative, Tariff, Conclave, and Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg.
Gerrymander refers to dividing a state, district into political units or election districts that give one group or political entity an undue advantage.
All around 2025, Republicans and Democrats in the US used redistricting to increase their electoral advantages, constantly increasing the lookups.
Touch grass refers to the involvement in real-time activities in the real world, instead of online experiences and interactions.
"Lookups spiked in September, after the murder of Charlie Kirk, when Utah Governor Spencer Cox spoke passionately about the dangers of social media and urged people to log off, turn off, touch grass, go hug a family member, go out and do good in the community," Merriam-Webster website stated.
Performative refers to an act done to show off, bolstering a positive image.
This year, politics, wokeness, and patriotism were all 'mocked' as performative and made netizens search for what they really meant.
Tariff refers to “a schedule of duties imposed by a government on imported or, in some countries, exported goods,” said Merriam-Webster.
And for all obvious reasons, lookups spiralled following Trump's massive tariff announcement.
Six-seven, a Gen Alpha slang term meant nothing in particular, but tends to delight kids.
Rapper Skrilla used the term in several videos that went viral. Even Gen Z was perplexed as to why Gen Alpha was so hooked on the word, spiking the lookups.
Conclave refers to a meeting in which new popes are selected since the 13th century.
The term was prominently searched after the demise of Pope Francis in April. However, the lookups were high even before that, owing to the wide reception of the Conclave movie.
Interestingly, with no significant event related, Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugga, a lake on the border with Connecticut in south central Massachusetts, aka Webster Lake, was also in the top lookups list.
"Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg baffled us when it started clogging the top Lookups list," the website noted.
Anyhow, 'slop' won Merriam-Webster's lookups race.
Let's see if 2026 is spared of slop and hope human-crafted digital content gains prominence, and a word that values it tops the chart.
