Every year brings a few phrases that capture the internet’s mood, but 2025 has turned slang into a mirror of how artificial intelligence is reshaping everyday talk. Two major dictionaries, Collins and Dictionary.com, have tracked that shift, revealing how online culture, technology, and generational humor keep blending until even nonsense starts to mean something.
Collins Dictionary picked vibe coding as its Word of the Year, a term that sums up how programming itself is changing. Instead of typing endless lines of code, developers now describe what they want in plain language and let AI do the heavy lifting. This idea took off early in the year after researchers and software engineers began relying on tools like Claude Code, Replit, and Codex to build apps in minutes. Some of those systems still make errors (one even wiped out a company’s entire database during testing) but the direction is clear. Programming is turning into conversation.
Around that new way of working, a whole set of other AI-driven slang terms has surfaced, and they tell a larger story about how people feel about automation, power, and status in tech.
The word clanker, for example, has become a common insult for robots and AI systems. It started as a light joke from Star Wars fans and morphed into shorthand for frustration with chatbots, voice menus, or digital tools that seem to miss the human touch. The spread of that word reflects a growing unease about machines creeping into jobs once done by people.
Then there’s broligarchy (a mix of bro and oligarchy) which pokes fun at the small group of ultra-rich tech leaders who shape much of the digital economy. The word captures public irritation over how much influence that handful of billionaires holds over AI, politics, and online platforms.
The phrase aura farming also made both dictionaries’ lists this year. It’s the Gen Z practice of carefully building an effortless image online, posting casual-looking videos that are anything but casual. It became part of youth slang after a viral clip of an Indonesian dancer on a boat turned into a meme about curating one’s personal “vibe” for the internet.
Another word, HENRY, short for “High Earner, Not Rich Yet,” has gained traction among young professionals who are doing well financially but still feel short of real wealth. Many in this group work in AI startups or tech consulting, earning a few hundred thousand a year but juggling high costs of living and student debt.
Meanwhile, taskmasking has become a subtle protest inside offices where return-to-office rules clash with flexible work habits. It describes the act of appearing busy online, opening random documents, joining unnecessary meetings, just to look productive.
And micro-retirement speaks to a cultural shift in how younger workers view careers. Instead of waiting decades to slow down, many are now taking months off to travel or reset after burnout. These pauses are becoming as normal as job changes.
While Collins leaned heavily on AI and workplace culture, Dictionary.com took a different route. Its 2025 Word of the Year is 67—yes, the number. It began as a cryptic meme from a song called Doot Doot (6 7) and spread through TikTok clips where teens used it as a nonsense response to almost any question. Searches for 67 grew sixfold by midyear, showing how quickly a meaningless number can turn into shared online identity.
Linguists say this word captures the “brain-rot” humor that defines the younger internet: fast, absurd, and driven by in-group meaning. In that sense, it’s the opposite of structured AI vocabulary. Yet both phenomena (AI jargon like vibe coding and viral slang like 67) point to the same reality. Language is moving faster than institutions can keep up with.
Dictionary.com’s shortlist adds more examples of that mix. Agentic now describes not just human independence but also AI systems that act on their own. The Gen Z stare became a meme for blank expressions that frustrate older generations. Even the dynamite emoji found new meaning as shorthand for celebrity couple Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.
Together, these words show how 2025’s vocabulary isn’t just about technology — it’s about how people are adjusting to it. Some terms mock the rise of automation; others celebrate it or use it to build new identities online.
By the looks of it, this is just the start. As AI tools become more personal and memes spread faster than dictionaries can define them, the line between serious tech talk and playful slang will keep blurring. The language of 2025 may sound strange now, but in a few years, it’ll probably read like a diary of how humans adapted to their digital reflections.
Image: Volodymyr Dobrovolskyy / Unsplash. Note: This post was edited/created using GenAI tools.
Read next: October Layoffs Surge to 22-Year High as AI and Cost Pressures Shake U.S. Workforce
Collins Dictionary picked vibe coding as its Word of the Year, a term that sums up how programming itself is changing. Instead of typing endless lines of code, developers now describe what they want in plain language and let AI do the heavy lifting. This idea took off early in the year after researchers and software engineers began relying on tools like Claude Code, Replit, and Codex to build apps in minutes. Some of those systems still make errors (one even wiped out a company’s entire database during testing) but the direction is clear. Programming is turning into conversation.
Around that new way of working, a whole set of other AI-driven slang terms has surfaced, and they tell a larger story about how people feel about automation, power, and status in tech.
The word clanker, for example, has become a common insult for robots and AI systems. It started as a light joke from Star Wars fans and morphed into shorthand for frustration with chatbots, voice menus, or digital tools that seem to miss the human touch. The spread of that word reflects a growing unease about machines creeping into jobs once done by people.
Then there’s broligarchy (a mix of bro and oligarchy) which pokes fun at the small group of ultra-rich tech leaders who shape much of the digital economy. The word captures public irritation over how much influence that handful of billionaires holds over AI, politics, and online platforms.
The phrase aura farming also made both dictionaries’ lists this year. It’s the Gen Z practice of carefully building an effortless image online, posting casual-looking videos that are anything but casual. It became part of youth slang after a viral clip of an Indonesian dancer on a boat turned into a meme about curating one’s personal “vibe” for the internet.
Another word, HENRY, short for “High Earner, Not Rich Yet,” has gained traction among young professionals who are doing well financially but still feel short of real wealth. Many in this group work in AI startups or tech consulting, earning a few hundred thousand a year but juggling high costs of living and student debt.
Meanwhile, taskmasking has become a subtle protest inside offices where return-to-office rules clash with flexible work habits. It describes the act of appearing busy online, opening random documents, joining unnecessary meetings, just to look productive.
And micro-retirement speaks to a cultural shift in how younger workers view careers. Instead of waiting decades to slow down, many are now taking months off to travel or reset after burnout. These pauses are becoming as normal as job changes.
While Collins leaned heavily on AI and workplace culture, Dictionary.com took a different route. Its 2025 Word of the Year is 67—yes, the number. It began as a cryptic meme from a song called Doot Doot (6 7) and spread through TikTok clips where teens used it as a nonsense response to almost any question. Searches for 67 grew sixfold by midyear, showing how quickly a meaningless number can turn into shared online identity.
Linguists say this word captures the “brain-rot” humor that defines the younger internet: fast, absurd, and driven by in-group meaning. In that sense, it’s the opposite of structured AI vocabulary. Yet both phenomena (AI jargon like vibe coding and viral slang like 67) point to the same reality. Language is moving faster than institutions can keep up with.
Dictionary.com’s shortlist adds more examples of that mix. Agentic now describes not just human independence but also AI systems that act on their own. The Gen Z stare became a meme for blank expressions that frustrate older generations. Even the dynamite emoji found new meaning as shorthand for celebrity couple Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.
Together, these words show how 2025’s vocabulary isn’t just about technology — it’s about how people are adjusting to it. Some terms mock the rise of automation; others celebrate it or use it to build new identities online.
By the looks of it, this is just the start. As AI tools become more personal and memes spread faster than dictionaries can define them, the line between serious tech talk and playful slang will keep blurring. The language of 2025 may sound strange now, but in a few years, it’ll probably read like a diary of how humans adapted to their digital reflections.
Image: Volodymyr Dobrovolskyy / Unsplash. Note: This post was edited/created using GenAI tools.
Read next: October Layoffs Surge to 22-Year High as AI and Cost Pressures Shake U.S. Workforce
