Cambridge University Press said “tradwife” – a portmanteau of traditional wife – reflected “a growing, controversial Instagram and TikTok trend that embraces traditional gender roles”.
The dictionary also took on the challenge of defining “skibidi”, a word popularised in online memes, as a term which had “different meanings such as cool or bad, or can be used with no real meaning”.
The gibberish word was spread by a YouTube channel called “Skibidi Toilet” and is associated with the mindless, “brainrot” content found on social media and consumed by Gen Alpha’s overwhelmingly digital lifestyle.
The dictionary defined “delulu”, derived from the word delusional, as “believing things that are not real or true, usually because you choose to”.
As an example, it cited a 2025 speech in parliament where Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese used the phrase “delulu with no solulu”.
“It’s not every day you get to see words like ‘skibidi’ and ‘delulu’ make their way into the Cambridge Dictionary,” said Colin McIntosh, lexical programme manager at Cambridge Dictionary.
“We only add words where we think they’ll have staying power. Internet culture is changing the English language, and the effect is fascinating to observe and capture in the Dictionary.”
Other new phrases include “lewk”, used to describe a unique fashion look and popularised by the TV show “RuPaul’s Drag Race”; and “inspo”, short for inspiration.
Then there’s “broligarchy”, which refers to a small group of men in the tech business who wield a large amount of power and wealth, and “who have or want political influence”.
The term was used to refer to the likes of X owner and Tesla founder Elon Musk, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, and Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, who all attended US president Donald Trump’s inauguration in January.
Meanwhile, work-from-home culture has given rise to “mouse jiggler”, referring to a way to pretend to work when you are not.
“A classic product of the post-pandemic world of remote working, mouse jigglers can be both hardware and software designed to keep the mouse icon moving across the screen and prevent standby mode from kicking in,” the Dictionary explained.
There’s also “forever chemicals”, man-made substances that stay in the environment for years. These have gained traction as concerns grow about the irreversible impact of climate change on the well-being of humans and nature.