Gen Z's most used words of 2025 revealed - here's what they mean

When it comes to rich, abstract, ever-growing, and ever-changing vocabularies, members of the Gen Z community have seemingly got us trumped.

It seems that every week, a new term, phrase or 'vocal stim' - as the youngsters call them nowadays - is added to their long list of daily expressions.

This is likely due to this group - born between 1997 and 2012, making them roughly 13 to 28 years old as of 2026 - being made up of digital natives who've grown up in an age of social media.

Apps like TikTok and Instagram, and online streaming services have resulted in a fast-paced, visual, and globalised communication where slang spreads rapidly, expresses identity, and blends the online world with reality.

And apparently, 2025 was a big year for novel Gen Z lingo, with the community's list of favourite phrases being revealed this week by Pubity experts.

'Rage bait' is online content specifically curated to spark outrage (Getty Stock Image)

'Rage bait'

At the top of the list of much-loved Gen Z terms was 'rage bait'. This describes the type of online content that is specifically designed to spark negative reactions - mostly anger and outrage - in a bid to boost the post's engagement.

Much like 'click bait', 'rage bait' could come in the form of a news article with a headline so outlandish it's almost infuriating, driving the reader to click and read more.

In most cases, this content does so by including exaggerated, misleading, or controversial opinions, prompting people to write back in the comments or share it with an outraged caption.

'Parasocial'

Also on last year's list was 'parasocial', which was chosen as Cambridge's 'Word of the Year'.

This term is commonly used to describe one-sided emotional relationships that a chronically online individual might form with a public figure.

This could include a person obsessed with a certain celebrity or a social media influencer.

Gen Zs might experience a 'parasocial' relationship with their favourite content creators (Getty Stock Image)

'Micro retirement'

Whilst members of the Gen Z community are, sadly, nowhere near retirement age, studies show that these youngsters do like to discuss the concept of 'micro retirement'.

Unlike other terms we'll go on to, this notion is pretty simple.

It describes the purposeful taking of short breaks from work in a bid to see the world whilst they're young, as opposed to waiting until they're in their late 60s.

'Beige flag'

By now, most of us - even boomers - are probably familiar with the idea of 'red flags' and 'green flags'.

These terms are most commonly used when discussing dating, with someone who holds the door open for you usually being dubbed a 'green flag', and someone who ceaselessly talks about their ex being branded a 'red flag'.

So, what's a 'beige flag'?

Apparently, this phrase is used by Gen Zs to describe oddly specific behaviours that don't quite fit into either category. They're not negative traits, or perks - but they are something that you secretly file away about a person.

'Beige flags' usually describe downright weird behaviours (Getty Stock Image)

'Girl math'

Whilst this can be used interchangeably with 'boy math', this enigma is a playful way for a member of the Gen Z community to justify their spending decisions.

For example, if they return a parcel they no longer want, they're making money. It also includes mindsets like, if they pay for anything in cash, it's free.

Make sense?

'Aura farming'

Nowadays, everyone is going on about auras.

It's linked to the idea that how you dress, how you style your hair, the content you share, how you walk, and how you speak add to the 'aura' you give off online.

As such, 'aura farming' describes the intentional act of crafting a specific 'aura' by paying attention to your behaviour and/or style.

'Aura farming' is a Gen Z term (Getty Stock Image)

'AI slop'

It's getting trickier in today's day and age to determine an artificially-generated video, and one filmed with a real camera.

In some cases, however, AI technology hasn't been able to convince video viewers that a clip is genuine - like one of a bear walking through someone's property, or an alligator walking on its hind legs.

These poor-quality, formulaic videos are being branded by Gen Zs as 'AI slop'.

'Algorithm fatigue'

As we say, Gen Zs thrive on TikTok, which really took off when we were trapped indoors in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic, when we all had much more time to doomscroll.

Apparently, when a person experiences 'algorithm fatigue', however, they've simply grown tired of their personally curated social media feed, and are feeling bored with the same old subject matters.

Gen Zs are growing tired of their TikTok algorithms (Getty Stock Image)

'Soft launch'

Surely we're all familiar with this one by now? If not, don't worry. We got you.

Basically, couples who've only recently started dating might give off subtle social media hints that they're no longer on the market.

It could be a photo of a dining table laid with two wine glasses instead of one, or a new partner's hand featuring in the corner of a dinnertime snap.

They're 'soft launching' their relationship.

The opposite, a 'hard launch', describes someone uploading a photo of their new beau head-on, and is a pretty daunting prospect for some daters.