An
earworm, sometimes known as a
brainworm, is a
catchy piece of music that continually repeats through a person's mind after it is no longer playing. Phrases used to describe an earworm include
musical imagery repetition,
involuntary musical imagery, and
stuck song syndrome. The word is a
calque from the German . The earliest known usage is in
Desmond Bagley's 1978 novel
Flyaway.