2025-11-09T20:15:17Z
Share
Email
X
Bluesky
Copy link
lighning bolt icon
An icon in the shape of a lightning bolt.
Impact Link
Save
Saved
Read in app
This story is available exclusively to Business Insider
subscribers. Become an Insider
and start reading now.
Have an account? Log in.
“Vibe-coding” is Collins Dictionary’s “word of the year” for 2025.
Collins Dictionary classifies it as a noun, not a verb.
The term was originally coined by OpenAI cofounder Andrej Karpathy in February.
AI is changing everything — including the English lexicon.
Andrej Karpathy, the OpenAI cofounder and former AI director at Tesla, coined the term “vibe-coding” in a post on X in February. Nine months later, it’s an official word in the dictionary.
“There’s a new kind of coding I call “vibe coding” where you fully give in to the vibes, embrace exponentials, and forget that the code even exists,” Karpathy wrote.
“It’s possible because the LLMs (e.g. Cursor Composer w Sonnet) are getting too good,” he added.
Since then, vibe-coding has not only become a bona fide word in tech circles, but a legitimate skill that can command sizable salaries.
Collins Dictionary, a dictionary now published by Harper Collins with a more than 200-year history, named vibe-coding its 2025 word of the year this week.
Collins categorizes it as a noun, and a slang term, and defines it as “the use of artificial intelligence prompted by natural language to assist with the writing of computer code.”
Over the past year, vibe-coding has become the standard for experienced and novice coders alike to approach their work, whether that’s building new apps or testing out concepts at companies.
Companies building vibe-coding platforms have also won sizable funding rounds from Silicon Valley’s top investors.
Lovable, founded in 2023, announced a $200 million Series A raise at a $1.8 billion valuation led by Accel in July. In September, Replit announced a $250 million funding round at $3 billion valuation led by Prysm Capital. That month, Vercel also announced a $300 million round at a $9.3 billion valuation, also led by Accel.