'Vibe coding' named word of the year by Collins Dictionary

'Vibe coding' named word of the year by Collins Dictionary

11 hours ago Share Save Laura Cress Technology reporter Share Save

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If you've ever wanted to create your own computer program but never learnt how to code, you might try "vibe coding". Collins Dictionary's word of the year - which is confusingly made up of two words - is the art of making an app or website by describing it to artificial intelligence (AI) rather than by writing programming code manually. The term was coined in February by OpenAI co-founder Andrej Karpathy, who came up with the name to represent how AI can let some programmers "forget that the code even exists" and "give in to the vibes" while making a computer program. It was one of 10 words on a shortlist to reflect the mood, language and preoccupations of 2025.

By giving an AI tool a simple description such as "make me a program that schedules my weekly meals", people can use "vibe coding" to make basic apps without any previous programming knowledge. More complicated tools still require skill, but the practice has opened up creating digital platforms to non-coders. As many have discovered, it isn't perfect - with no guarantee the code will actually work or be free of bugs. Alex Beecroft, the Managing Director of Collins, said the term "perfectly captures how language is evolving alongside technology".

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