LONDON—Collins Dictionary just picked “vibe coding” as its Word of the Year for 2025. The term kind of sums up how much AI shapes the way we use tech and talk to each other these days.
OpenAI co-founder Andrej Karpathy came up with the phrase. It describes a fresh way of writing software—basically, you tell the AI what you want in plain language, and it spits out the code. You don’t need to know old-school programming. Collins calls it “programming by vibes, not variables,” which feels about right.
The editors say the word captures a bigger shift: AI tools aren’t just for techies anymore—they’ve worked their way into almost everything we do, from our jobs to how we unwind. The lexicographers at Collins keep an eye on over 24 billion words pulled from news stories, social posts, and everything online to spot words that really reflect the moment.
This year’s shortlist packs in more fresh terms people are using:
“Broligarchy”—a—a“Broligarchy” — a bunch of rich guys calling the political shots.
”Clanker”—slang ”Clanker”—slang“Clanker” — slang for robots or AI (not exactly a compliment).
“HENRY” — stands for High Earner, Not Rich Yet.
”Taskmasking”—acting”Taskmasking”—acting“Taskmasking” — acting busy by multitasking, even if not much gets done.
“micro-retirement”—taking—taking“Micro-retirement” — taking short career breaks to chase what interests you.
”Biohacking”—tweaking”Biohacking”—tweaking“Biohacking” — tweaking your body’s biology to boost health or performance.
“farming”—building “Aura farming”—building”farming”—building“Aura farming” — building up a unique or magnetic personal image.
”glaze”—laying”glaze”—laying“To glaze” — laying on the flattery, maybe a bit too thick.
”Coolcation”—ditching”Coolcation”—ditching“Coolcation” — ditching the tropics for a vacation somewhere chill (literally).
Sure, tech terms are front and center this year, but a bunch of these words are all about how we work and take care of ourselves.
Last year, the Word of the Year was “Brat,” which blew up thanks to Charli XCX’s album. That word became shorthand for being bold and unapologetically yourself.
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