For us linguists, the deluge of “Word of the Year” announcements from dictionaries and publishers is a vacation tradition, as expected as mince pies. Not only are Words of the Year a fun have a look at latest slang and language changes, additionally they tell us lots concerning the concerns, trends and obsessions of the English-speaking world.
And this yr's list has a transparent theme. In 2025, artificial intelligence (AI) played an enormous role in our offices, social media feeds, music and flicks, and now dictionaries.
One of the primary announcements this yr was Collins Dictionary being chosen “Vibe coding” as their word of the yr. Vibe coding refers to using AI tools to generate code as a substitute of manually coding software programs.
When I first heard this, my initial response was that it is a very area of interest phrase that isn't in most individuals's vocabulary. However, after we look back on the Cambridge Dictionary selections for 2023 – what was “hallucinate”related to the inaccurate or nonsensical answers generated by AI models – many individuals felt the identical way. We now commonly confer with the hallucinogenic properties of the AI results and roll our eyes at a few of the answers. Language can and can change quickly.
Such an output can sometimes be described as Backup slop“Low-quality content created by generative AI, often containing errors and never requested by the user” – Macquarie Dictionary Word of the Year 2025. The Economist And Merriam Webster also addressed “slop,” suggesting that this content, nevertheless unappealing, is a necessary a part of our adoption of this latest technology.
“Clanker” is one other word that has caught many's shortlists this yr and is used as a derogatory word to explain an AI source.
Do you’re feeling such as you've had enough of AI? For many, the other could be the case: the Cambridge Dictionary was chosen for the word of the yr 2025 “parasocial”thereby expanding the definition to bear in mind people's relationships with AI companions and chatbots.
Another term that reflects the AI-driven battle for authenticity is “glazing,” which appears within the Collins Dictionary Selection list. Defined as “excessive praise or flattery, often undeserved,” glamor is something recognizable to anyone who has ever asked ChatGPT for assist in decision-making (OpenAI rolled back a ChatGPT update in early 2025). due to sycophancy within the chatbot).
Selection of the highest word of the yr
Despite what you may imagine, these words aren’t chosen by Lexicographers gather in a secret conclave. A whole lot of time is spent tracking word usage all year long before decisions are made about candidates.
Cambridge Dictionary tracks searches in its online dictionary and across Google on a monthly basis. Dictionary.com augments search engine results with headlines and social media trends. Oxford University Press maintains an in depth language database referred to as “ Oxford Monitor Corpus of Englishwhich is constantly updated with automatic feeds from online media. This equates to 150 million words per thirty days and is a wealthy source of online trends for the Oxford team.
The lexicographers then create shortlists of words. Readers also can have their say, as do lots of the publishers, including Oxford University Press And Macquariemake their decisions available to the general public vote. The words with essentially the most votes are then officially named word of the yr.
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Traditionalists might argue that a lot of these words are literally multiple words. But so long as they represent a “single unit of meaning”They are considered worthy winners. They aren't at all times latest words either. Neologisms is usually a latest or expanded meaning of a word that already has an extended history (see “parasocial” – feeling a connection to someone we don't actually know personally – which applies to Beatlemania and Taylor Swift fans in addition to AI).
Internet culture continues to supply a wealthy collection of words of the yr. “rage bait” was the Oxford Dictionary's selection. This is social media content designed to govern users into reacting negatively to a post or attacking previous replies. The posts and subsequent comments appeal to our emotions, but not in a positive way. Naming this behavior shows our growing awareness of such manipulative techniques and hopefully the beginning of many individuals refusing to cope with online negativity.
“Memeify”the motion of making memes even made it onto Cambridge's shortlist for 2025. My personal favorite word of the yr in 2025 was propelled by basketball-related memes, viz “67”which was Dictionary.com's selection.
This contribution is welcome Generation Alpha to the table of linguistics. Traditionally, latest colloquial terms were first utilized by older teenagers as they forged friendships and built their identities outside of their families. But this yr shows that our youngest generation is seamlessly navigating online content and is already influencing language use.
