The youth word of the year: Which word does the trends 2025 set?

The youth word of the year: Which word does the trends 2025 set?

The publisher Langenscheidt is currently looking for the "Youth Word of the Year" 2025. Young people aged 11 to 20 years are invited to submit their suggestions on the Jugendwort.de website. The terms should be widespread in the language use of youth and can come from different languages, including German, English, Turkish or Arabic. This tradition of choice originated in 2008 with the first youth word "gammel meat party", which was shaped for Ü-30 parties. In the following years, many other terms were created, including "Hartzen" (doing nothing), "swag" (coolness) and "smombie" (smartphone + zombie).

The choice of "Aura" as the youth word of 2024 is particularly noteworthy. It refers to a special charisma or charisma and is often used jokingly in the youth language. According to The press was announced as the winner after the vote took place in two rounds and the number of submitted votes was in the high six-digit range. "Aura" was first used in an article from the "New York Times" in 2020 in connection with the athlete Virgil van Dijk. There is also a negative connotation, which is referred to as the "minusaura" if someone is noticed negatively due to embarrassing misconceptions.

The top candidates and the voting process

The vote took place after the proposals were collected and the top 10 were announced on July 29, 2024. “Talahon” took second place among the terms offered. This term comes from the Arab "Tahal Lahon" and describes young men who wear fake luxury clothes. Here, too, the importance caused controversial discussions about migration and youth culture. Third place went to "scissors", which describes a mistake in the online game and streaming scene.

The awarding of the title word took place live at the 76th Frankfurt Book Fair. Langenscheidt Verlag has had the task of choosing the strongest youth word every year since 2008. Last year's winner was the word "Goofy", which describes a clumsy person or behavior. At a time when the youth language is changing dynamically and strongly influenced by social media and pop culture, it is particularly exciting to observe which new terms and phrases are evident from youth culture.

youth language in change

The trends within the youth language are also further reinforced by the influence of online games and social media. Words such as "Lost", "Cringe" and "SuS" are widespread in communication among young people. These neologisms and abbreviations not only serve to identify within groups, but also reflect how the linguistic landscape is constantly changing by modern media. Over 90% of young people use English words every day, and around 70% combine English and German expressions, which is called Denglisch. Popular expressions from today are "Sheesh", which expresses astonishment or joy, and "flexen", which means specifying or bragilayers, so reports The next announcement of the final youth word for 2025 will be made on October 18 at the Frankfurt Book Fair. It remains to be seen which new terms will cite the youth words ranking and how they influence social and cultural perception.