From 6-7 to skibidi and delulu, 2025 was the year when Generation Alpha slang entered everyday language and dictionaries with a vengeance.
But the digital native children of the 21st century had to compete with a plethora of tech terms -- not to mention US President Donald Trump, who also exerted his inescapable influence.
Here is an AFP selection of five words of the year:
- 6-7 -
The nonsense term from a meme using the song "Doot Doot (6 7)" by the US rapper Skrilla was inspired by the basketball player LaMelo LaFrance Ball, who is six foot seven inches (two meters) tall.
It spread like wildfire on TikTok and Instagram, spawning its own hand gestures, and became so ubiquitous -- and annoying -- that it was reportedly banned in some US schools.
There has been much speculation over its origins, including that it references police radio code or 67th Street in Skrilla's hometown Philadelphia.
But Dictionary.com -- which crowned it word of the year -- said it was Generation Alpha's joke on adults who are "once again struggling to make sense of its notoriously slippery slang".
- Skibidi -
Pronounced SKIH-bih-dee, the gibberish term which can mean "cool" or "bad" -- or nothing at all if it is used as a joke -- comes from a YouTube series called "Skibidi Toilet" featuring a humanoid head sticking out of a toilet bowl.
It has become an all-conquering meme sparking its own fan fiction and cosplay characters.
Like "6-7", fans say its attraction lies in the fact that it can mean anything at all -- and has become a symbol of the "brain rot" content being consumed on social media.
It entered the Cambridge Dictionary in August alongside "delulu", a contraction of delusional that means "believing things that are not real or true, usually because you choose to".
- Broligarchy -
Defined by the Collins dictionary as a "small clique of very wealthy men who exert political influence", the broligarchy has been used to describe the "tech bros" headed by Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook of Apple and Google's Sundar Pichai.
This gaggle of men was given pride of place at Trump's presidential inauguration ceremony in January. Such is their importance in the hierarchy of Trump's new order, they were seated in front of his own cabinet.
- AI slop -
The deluge of AI-generated images and videos clogging social media feeds reached such levels that the launch of OpenAI's Sora 2 text-to-video app in October prompted headlines asking, "Is it the end of civilization as we know it?"
Often derided for their poor quality, obsession with dancing cats and crassness they also raised fears about the death of creativity.
They have inevitably also slipped into politics, with Trump posting several AI-generated images of himself, including one as the pope and a lightsaber-wielding Jedi.
- Coolcation -
With 2025 likely to be the second or third hottest year on record, after fierce forest fires raging in Europe and Canada and heatwaves baking Southeast Asia, many tourists have been turning their backs on holiday hotspots to chill in cooler destinations.
But climate change had a sting in the tail for those who headed north to enjoy the fjords and forests of northern Europe. A Nordic heatwave saw 22 straight days of temperatures over 30C in Finland, the longest since records began, with reindeer dying of the heat in Rovaniemi, known as "the hometown of Santa Claus".
