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The Word of the Year for 2025 has been revealed

Published 17:16 6 Nov 2025 GMT

Updated 17:17 6 Nov 2025 GMT

Ava Keady
The Word of the Year for 2025 has been revealed

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Drum roll please...

The Word of the Year for 2025 has finally been revealed.

"Brat" was last year's pick after Charli XCX absolutely dominated the music and pop culture industry.

Other previous words of the year include Brexit, binge-watch, lockdown and fake-news.

Drum roll please... "vibe coding" has been crowned Collins Word of the Year for 2025.

The term, which refers to an emerging software development process that turns natural language into computer code using AI, beat out contenders like "clanker", "glaze" and "aura farming".

Former director of AI at Tesla, Andrej Karpathy, coined the term earlier this year, which essentially explains how people can now describe what they want to AI, which then produces the code for them instead of them writing it manually.

The word is chosen by Collins lexicographers who study a 24-billion-word corpus from diverse media, including social platforms, to produce the annual list of emerging words.

“Clanker", a term mocking AI systems was a close second to "vibe coding", as well as “glaze,” meaning excessive or false praise.

Other contenders included “aura farming,” cultivating a cool, charismatic persona, and “broligarchy,” for the top tech company owners or “tech bros.”

See below for the full list of contenders for this years title:

  • Biohacking - also referred to as "do-it-yourself biology". This describes the activity of altering the natural processes of one's body in an attempt to enhance physical wellbeing and extend lifespan.
  • Micro-retirement - a term often used by Gen Z and millennials to describe taking a break between periods of employment in order to pursue personal interests.
  • Coolcation - a holiday in a place with a cool climate, as temperatures soar where they live or where they typically spent their holidays.
  • Taskmasking - the act of giving a false impression that one is being productive in the workplace.
  • HENRY - an acronym for "high earner, not rich yet". Refers to someone who has a large income but hasn't saved a lot.

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