It's that term of the year

Aura farming, broligarchy, carbon handprint... which are your favourites, from among the phrases that have swept the English-speaking world in 2025?

- Adam Jacot de Boinod

A lot of year-end lists can feel like a chore, but this is one we really enjoy compiling.

There is simply so much happening in the English language, which admittedly isn’t unusual. But these days (these years?), much of it is driven not by discoveries of science or new trends in scholarship, but by the spirit of an impatient new generation, and the language of the streets.

In keeping with that spirit, the words listed here may not have made it to dictionaries yet, but they are terms that have swept through the English-speaking world this past year; terms many have used and delighted in; and that make the list because they simply suit a task or emotion better than the options that existed before them.

Without further preamble, here are our favourite trending terms from 2025.

At the top of the list, for its easy flip from crisis to hope, is “carbon handprint”, which describes the positive impact a person or initiative can have or is having on the environment (the antonym, of course, being “carbon footprint’). It’s a lovely image too, isn't it, green marks leading to a better outcome?