Oxford's Word of the Year 2025 shortlist features Gen Alpha term ‘aura farming’

Published on: Nov 25, 2025 06:05 pm IST

Oxford Word of the Year 2025: The three words that have been shortlisted are - Aura Farming, Biohack and Rage Bait.

Word lovers are all set to embrace the all-new Oxford Word of the Year for 2025. Recently, Oxford announced its shortlist for the Word of the Year 2025. The three words included in it are: Aura Farming, Biohack and Rage Bait. The winning word is all set to be announced on December 1.

Aura Farming, Biohack and Rage Bait have been shortlisted for Oxford Word of the Year 2025.(X/@UniofOxford)
Aura Farming, Biohack and Rage Bait have been shortlisted for Oxford Word of the Year 2025.(X/@UniofOxford)

Sharing a post on X, the University of Oxford wrote, “CONFIRMED: @OxUniPress has announced its shortlist for the Oxford Word of the Year 2025: - Aura Farming - Biohack - Rage Bait. Voting runs from 24th to 27th November, with the winning word announced on 1st December.”

In an official statement, Oxford University Press informed that 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”.

Oxford Word of the Year 2025: Voting period

As per the official statement, voting will come to an end on Thursday, November 27, at 12 PM GMT /7 AM EST. Experts will then conduct a final analysis of the corpus data, votes and public commentary before announcing the definitive Oxford Word of the Year 2025 on December 1.

Oxford Word of the Year 2024

Last year, the word ‘brain rot’ was adjudged the Oxford Word of the Year.

I find it fascinating that the term ‘brain rot’ has been adopted by Gen Z and Gen Alpha, those communities largely responsible for the use and creation of the digital content the term refers to,” said Casper Grathwohl, President of Oxford Languages.

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Grathwohl said that these communities have “amplified the expression through social media channels, the very place said to cause ‘brain rot’”.

“ It demonstrates a somewhat cheeky self-awareness in the younger generations about the harmful impact of social media that they’ve inherited,” Grathwohl added.

The statement, shared by the Oxford University Press, had claimed that the first recorded use of ‘brain rot’ was found in 1854 in Henry David Thoreau’s book Walden, which reported his experiences of living a simple lifestyle in the natural world.

Also Read: Problematics | A to Z of word hunting

FAQs:

How many words have been shortlisted for the Oxford Word of the Year 2025?

Three words have been shortlisted for the Oxford Word of the Year 2025.

Which words have been shortlisted?

These include - Aura Farming, Biohack and Rage Bait.

When will the Oxford Word of the Year 2025 be announced?

December 1.

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