King's College London

Portuguese – Dr Daniel Mandur Thomaz, Senior Lecturer in Brazilian and Latin American Studies

 My favourite word of 2025 is terrir – literally, horror comedy. It is far from new: the term was first used in Brazil in 1967, but only in 2025 did it reach the desk of the lexicologists working on the Official Orthographic Reference (VOLP) published by the Brazilian Academy of Letters.

Terrir evokes both fear and laughter, as it playfully combines the Portuguese language noun terror (yes, just like in English) with the verb rir (to laugh). It usually refers to a genre found in literature, comics, and film. The word’s first known occurrence in Brazil was in a series of comics published by Editora Taika in the 1960s, which used humour to add an ironic twist to classic horror tropes. Brazilian photographer and film director Ivan Cardoso later championed terrir in his underground films from 1971 onwards, mixing pop culture and avant-garde (Third Cinema) language at a moment when Brazil was under a brutal military dictatorship (1964–85).

Terrir involves not only elements of dark humour, but also a quality of defiance –irony and sarcasm in the face of fear – which, I think, speaks powerfully to the times we are living through. Above all, terrir represents the possibility of resisting and defying frightening moments through humour.

Spanish – Dr Raquel Fernández-Sánchez, Senior Lecturer in Spanish

Language is a living entity that constantly evolves, and some new additions to the Spanish Dictionary illustrate this beautifully. Two recent entries are 'blusero’ and ‘rapear’. Blusero serves as both an adjective and a noun: it can describe something related to blues or identify someone who performs, sings, or deeply enjoys this genre. Rapear, the translation of rapping into Spanish, reflects the global reach of hip-hop culture.

What makes these terms remarkable is their seamless adaptation to Spanish phonology, making them sound native despite their foreign roots. This process highlights the permeability of language to cultural exchange, especially in areas like music and technology. In fact, languages often demonstrate more openness and inclusivity than societies themselves. These examples remind us that linguistic diversity fosters coexistence and enriches cultural identity.

Chinese – Dr Alice Xiang, Lecturer in Comparative Literature

From yǐdúbùhuí (the equivalent of ‘leaving someone on read’), the Chinese-language internet has come up with its newer, sassier variant: yǐdúluànhuí, literally ‘read-then-nonsensically-responded’. Think of it as a diversionary or tactical approach to texting. If a relative asks: “So when are you going to start dating again?” and you reply: “Just checked the fridge contents and all looks good👍”, that would be an act of yǐdúluànhuí. Diversionary texting can run the gamut from the seriously strategic (e.g. the maintenance of cordial intergenerational relations as well as one’s own boundaries) to the affectionately absurd (e.g. banter with friends). Diversionary texting can be viewed as a delicate art, a stopgap tactic, or a playful distraction from the impositions and mundanities of social obligations. Reflective of how a variety of relationships are now often navigated primarily via texting, the term captures both the fraught and creative possibilities of the medium.

For Chinese terms that are long-established international sensations, check out bàofùxìngáoyè (‘revenge bedtime procrastination’) or nèijuǎn (‘involution’, a kind of self-consuming productivity).

Latin – Dr Sebastian Matzner, Reader in Ancient & Comparative Literature and Literary Theory

You may think that there cannot possibly be a ‘Word of the Year’ for a supposedly ‘dead’ language like Latin… but there is: the Vox Anni (‘Word of the Year’) contest, now in its fourth year, run by the community of lexicographers associated with the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae, the world’s biggest (and still growing!) Latin dictionary.

Until 14th December, the public could vote for their frontrunner from six finalists pre-selected by a jury. My personal favourite is rhonchissātor—'snorer’. It is made up of the noun rhonchus (‘snoring sound’, borrowed from Greek), which is turned into a verb through the verbal suffix -isso (like -ise in English, as in ‘organ-ise’), and then turned into a noun again through the nominal suffix -tor (again, like -tor in English, as in ‘genera-tor’). What makes the result so brilliant is that saying it out loud sounds just like the person it describes!

French – Dr Alice Dias Mercier, Senior Lecturer in French Language Education

Ce n’est qu’un faurevoir…

Our Canadian friends are famously inventive with the French language, and few things show this better than their talent for coining new words. One recent favourite is faurevoir (faux + au revoir), a term drawn straight from lived experience: you say goodbye, before the conversation starts up again.

This playful creativity has deep historical roots. Since the British conquest of 1763, French in Canada has survived as a minority language surrounded by English, making its defence both political and emotional. Innovation here is more than wordplay; it is a form of cultural resilience.

Faurevoir itself emerged from the 2025 Concours de créativité lexicale, organised by the Office québécois de la langue française, alongside other student-coined gems such as célébloui (célèbre + ébloui) – meaning the state of being starstruck – and l’évitango (éviter + tango) – referring to that delicate choreography of mutual avoidance.

More than a light-hearted neologism, faurevoir feels uncannily right for our times. It captures the sense of suspension and unfinished endings that mark much of contemporary life: transitions without closure, change without resolution. This is your cue to let words misbehave a little and invent the next mot-valise!

Italian – Dr Caterina Domeneghini, Lecturer in Comparative Literature

A word that is coming back into fashion is one that describes the state of being out of fashion: retromania. First recorded as a neologism in the Treccani encyclopaedia in 2018, it is among the new entries in the 2026 edition of the Italian dictionary Zanichelli, where it is defined as ‘the attitude of nostalgia and passionate interest towards the past’. From disposable cameras to vinyl records and vintage clothing or design, retromania speaks to a renewed appetite for older tastes and lifestyles. But it also says something about our own time. Looking backwards can be comforting when the present and the future feel frightening or uncertain – from anxiety around climate catastrophe to populist propaganda that regurgitates and recycles unconfronted and deeply problematic political legacies, in Italy and beyond. Yet if revisiting the past becomes nothing more than a route to escapism, can it ever be truly liberating?

Portuguese – Professor Toby Green, Professor of Precolonial and Lusophone African History and Culture

Fixe (pronounced: feesh) means "everything is OK, or cool". It can often be the first thing that young people will say when they meet one another, as a way of ensuring that everyone is included in a situation or dynamic. It's widely used around the PALOP countries in Africa (countries where Portuguese is the official language: Angola, Cabo Verde, Guine-Bissau, Mozambique and Sao Tome and Principe). It can though often be used in situations where people don't necessarily feel everything is ok, as an expression more than anything of optimism, or hope, in spite of the difficult circumstances. This makes it more than relevant to our time.