The Cambridge Dictionary has added thousands of new words this year 2025, including trendy slangs such as “Skibidi” and “tradwife”, showing how social media is reshaping the English language.
Skibidi comes from a viral YouTube animated series and is mostly used as a funny or random word. It can mean “cool,” “bad,” or sometimes nothing at all.
The dictionary gives the example: “What the skibidi are you doing?” Even reality TV star Kim Kardashian highlighted the phrase when she shared necklace engraved with Skibidi Toilet, the names of the series.
On the other hand, tradwife is short for “traditional wife.” It refers to a married women who embraces housework, childcare, and often shared this lifestyle on social media.
More than 6,000 new words and phrases have been included this year. Among them is “delulu”, a playful version of the word delusional, used when someone believes in things that are not real.
The rise of remote work has also introduced “mouse jiggler” a tool or software that makes it look like someone is working online when they are not.
Other creative combinations have made it too. One example is “broligarchy” a word formed by joining “bro” and “oligarchy.” It describes a small, powerful group of wealthy men in the tech world who influences politics. This word was used for leader like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos.
Colin McIntosh, lexical programme manager at Cambridge Dictionary, said: “Internet culture is changing the English language, and the effect is fascinating to observe and capture in the dictionary.”
