What it means
An earworm is that stupidly catchy bit of music that worms its way into your head and keeps doing laps up there. One chorus, one ad jingle, one cursed hook, and suddenly your brain's running it on repeat while you're trying to work, sleep, or have a normal thought.
Usage examples
"Heard that supermarket jingle once and now it’s an earworm. Been humming it on the bus all morning, doing my head in."
"That advert jingle is a total earworm, I have been humming it all day."
"Sorry for the earworm, but now you will be singing it too."
"That TikTok sound's a pure earworm, mate. I woke up with it still doing cartwheels round my skull."
"Don't play that chorus again, it's already an earworm and my brain's had enough of the little menace."
Where it comes from
Earworm is a straight loan translation of the German Ohrwurm, literally ear worm. English picked it up in the late 1900s and ran with it for a tune, hook, or jingle that gets stuck in your head and keeps looping long after the actual music's finished.
This expression also appears in
