“Vibe coding” selected as word of the year by Collins Dictionary

If you’ve ever wanted to write your own computer programs but never learned how to code, you might want to try “vibe coding.”

Collins Dictionary’s Word of the Year (which consists of two confusing words) is the art of writing programming code to artificial intelligence (AI) to create apps and websites, rather than writing it by hand.

The term was coined in February by OpenAI co-founder Andrei Karpathy. He came up with the name to describe how AI causes some programmers to “forget the code even exists” and “just go with the vibe” while writing computer programs.

It was one of 10 words shortlisted to reflect the mood, language and interests of 2025.

By giving the AI ​​tool a simple instruction such as “Create a program to schedule my weekly meals,” you can create a basic app using “vibe coding” without any programming knowledge.

Although more complex tools still require skills, this practice has made it possible for non-programmers to create digital platforms.

As many of you are aware, this is not perfect. There is no guarantee that the code will actually work or be bug-free.

Collins managing director Alex Beecroft said the term “perfectly captures how language is evolving with technology”.

While not all the words necessarily first appeared in 2025, Collins determined that this was the year they became popular.

For example, the term “clunker” has been used to describe robots in Star Wars games and movies since the mid-2000s, but it made the list after going viral on TikTok in July as people shared their frustrations with AI-powered machines.

“Aura farming” (something people do to look cool when they know they’re being filmed) was first used in January 2024, but became increasingly popular through 2025.

The term “brogalky” was coined in 2024 to describe the executives of the world’s largest technology companies and their political influence, and became more common in 2025 after many of their bosses appeared at President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

Other definitions of picklist are:

• biohackingactivities that alter the body’s natural processes to improve health and longevity

• CoolcationHolidays in a cool climate

• glaze, to praise or flatter someone excessively or unfairly

• henryan acronym for “high income earner, not yet rich”, or someone who has not acquired enough wealth from a high income

• micro retirement, breaks taken between periods of employment to pursue personal interests

• task maskinggiving the false impression of being productive at work