The managing director of Collins Dictionary has elaborated on the “significant” choice of “vibe coding” as the 2025 Word of the Year. Alex Beecroft explained that the term, which refers to AI-powered natural language programming, was chosen because it “perfectly captures how language is evolving alongside technology.”
Beecroft described the word’s rise as a signal of a “major shift in software development.” He emphasized that “vibe coding” is making this complex field “more accessible” to the general public. This, he stated, represents a “seamless integration of human creativity and machine intelligence” and is “fundamentally changing our interaction with computers.”
The term itself originated in February from Andrej Karpathy, a high-profile engineer at OpenAI. He envisioned “vibe coding” as a process where the human provides the creative vision (the “vibe”), and the AI handles the technical implementation, allowing the user to “forget that the code even exists.” Collins lexicographers confirmed a “huge increase” in the term’s use since then.
This optimistic winner was chosen from a “tech-heavy” list that also reflected the downsides of our new reality. The list included “clanker,” a viral insult for AI, and “broligarchy,” a critical term for the tech elite.
The 2025 list also featured “biohacking” (health optimization), “Henry” (high earner, not rich yet), “coolcation” (cold-climate travel), “taskmasking” (faking work), and “micro-retirement” (a career break), all painting a picture of a world in rapid transition.
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