Meet the candidates for Oxford Word of the Year 2025

We are excited to be inviting word lovers everywhere to take part and have their say on the Oxford Word of the Year for 2025.

Our language experts have analysed our 25-billion-word corpus of language data to decide on a shortlist of three words that reflect the wide scope of our experiences and our conversations over the past year.

Introducing the shortlist and their definitions:

• aura farming (n.): The cultivation of an impressive, attractive, or charismatic persona or public image by behaving or presenting oneself in a way intended subtly to convey an air of confidence, coolness, or mystique.
• biohack (v.): To attempt to improve or optimize one’s physical or mental performance, health, longevity, or wellbeing by altering one’s diet, exercise routine, or lifestyle, or by using other means such as drugs, supplements, or technological devices.
• rage bait (n.): Online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative, or offensive, typically posted in order to increase traffic to or engagement with a particular web page or social media content.

2025 has been a year defined by the transformation of humanity in a tech-driven world. As technology and artificial intelligence become ever more embedded into our daily lives—from deepfake celebrities and AI-generated influencers, to virtual companions and dating platforms—our society is asking questions around who we truly are, online and offline.

With that in mind, we’re letting our words show you who they really are. This week, you can ‘meet’ our words! They’ll be campaigning for votes on social media, offering a peek into their unique stories about the year we’ve lived and the influence they’ve had. Follow the action on Instagram.

Voting will close on Thursday 27 November at 12pm GMT / 7am EST. Our experts will then conduct a final analysis of our corpus data, your votes, and public commentary, before we announce the definitive Oxford Word of the Year 2025 on 1 December.