This year’s list of new words reflects a world marked by uncertainty, technological shifts, and a subdued everyday life. At the same time, language captures resistance, irony, and tentative visions of the future. Among the neologisms of 2025, ‘Trump whisperer,’ ‘mom sausage,’ and ‘dunkelflaute’ coexist with terms that point to new ways of thinking about energy, culture, and meaning.

Many of this year’s new words have arisen from a politically charged landscape. There are terms like ‘Trump whisperer,’ highlighting informal channels of power and personal relationships in international politics. Other concepts, like ‘retaliation tariff’ and ‘trade bazooka,’ show how trade policy has become increasingly confrontational—and how language swiftly adapts to describe new forms of conflict.

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Security and preparedness also make their mark. Terms such as ‘drone wall’ and ‘resilience boosting’ reflect a time in which protection, resistance, and borders rank high on the agenda, both literally and figuratively.

Dunkelflaute—Renewable Energy Crisis and More

One of the most telling new words this year is ‘dunkelflaute,’ a German loanword describing weather with neither sun nor wind—and thus, no power generation from renewable energy sources. But the term has come to be used far beyond meteorology. It also serves as a fitting metaphor for a perceived energy shortage in society at large: politically, economically, and mentally.

It’s precisely this sense of grayness and stagnation that marks several of the new words. Even fashion gets its share through ‘mom sausage,’ an everyday and somewhat ironic word for the long puffer coat that has become a winter wardrobe staple—practical, warm, and accused of being as colorless as the times.

The Promises—and Fears—of Technology

Technological innovation continues to shape language. New words like ‘AI agent’ and ‘vibe coding’ indicate how artificial intelligence is no longer just a tool but something that acts, interprets, and creates independently. At the same time, worries over downsides are growing, summed up in words like ‘brain rot,’ capturing the fear of mental decline in an endless stream of superficial content.

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The language thus mirrors a dual feeling: fascination with new possibilities, but also uncertainty about what rapid development does to us.

Sustainability as More Than Technology

Another clear theme in this year’s list is sustainability—but in a broader sense than before. Concepts like ‘preparedness cultivation,’ ‘balcony power plant,’ and ‘solar farming’ point to local, concrete solutions in times of supply insecurity. At the same time, more existential perspectives appear, such as ‘existential sustainability,’ where the focus is on humanity’s need for meaning, security, and connection.

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This is not only about keeping society running, but about life being worth living even when the future seems uncertain.

Language as an Energy Source

In this year’s new word chronicle from the Institute for Language and Folklore (Isof), language consultant Linnea Hanell notes that crisis and conflict are no longer new in language—the novelty is the overall feeling of heaviness, a steel-gray condition that seems to rest over both the world and everyday life. Nonsense, irony, and playfulness can offer temporary glimpses of light, but they do not dispel the clouds on their own.

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Instead, she highlights ‘cultural noise zone’ as an unexpectedly hopeful term. It represents the idea of making space for the noise and life of culture in the city—even when it’s unsettling. In that idea lies a vision of a society that is not only efficient and safe, but also vibrant. Perhaps it’s there, in culture and community, that energy can slowly begin to return.