“Vibe coding,” the practice of turning natural language prompts into computer code using artificial intelligence (AI), has been named Collins Dictionary’s Word of the Year for 2025. The selection highlights a significant cultural shift where AI’s presence in our daily lives and particularly in professional fields like software development—is rapidly increasing.
Coined by AI pioneer Andrej Karpathy, a founding engineer at OpenAI, the term describes a workflow where the primary role shifts from manually writing code line-by-line to guiding an AI assistant. As Collins explains, it’s about “telling a machine what you want rather than painstakingly coding it yourself.” Karpathy introduced the concept to describe being able to create an app with the help of AI while being able to “forget that the code even exists.”
Alex Beecroft, managing director of Collins, noted that the selection “perfectly captures how language is evolving alongside technology” and “signals a major shift in software development, where AI is making coding more accessible.”
The 2025 shortlist, compiled by lexicographers monitoring the 24-billion-word Collins Corpus, reveals a society grappling with the influences of technology, wealth, and wellness.
Terms reflecting resistance and skepticism towards AI also made the list, such as Clanker, a derogatory term for a robot, computer, or type of AI. The word originated in the Star Wars franchise, where clone troopers used it as a slur for battle droids, and its resurgence reflects a growing public distrust of automation and generative AI.
Similarly, Broligarchy, a blend of “bro” and “oligarchy,” refers to a small clique of very wealthy men who wield significant political influence, often used to describe tech billionaires.
The list also reflects contemporary financial and work trends, including Henry, an acronym for “high earner, not rich yet,” which describes people who, despite a high income, struggle to accumulate significant wealth.
Work-related terms include Taskmasking, the act of giving a false impression that one is being productive in the workplace, and Micro-retirement, a break taken between periods of employment to pursue personal interests, reflecting a changing attitude toward traditional career progression.
Finally, words concerning health and lifestyle round out the list. These include Biohacking, the activity of altering the natural processes of one’s body in an attempt to improve one’s health and longevity.
Aura farming describes a deliberate effort to cultivate a distinctive and charismatic persona, essentially curating the appearance of being effortlessly cool. The term Coolcation refers to a holiday taken in a place with a cool climate, often to escape soaring temperatures back home, reflecting the impact of global warming on leisure travel.
Another slang term is Glaze, which means to praise or flatter someone excessively or undeservedly, often used in the context of fan culture.
Collins’ previous Words of the Year were “brat” (2024) and “AI” itself (2023). The selection of “vibe coding” suggests that this year, the conversation has moved from recognizing the technology to describing its actual, on-the-ground impact on human work.
