The Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB), in association with media research company, Focal Points, hereby announces the following shortlisted words as candidates for 2025 SA Word of the Year:
| SA Word of the Year | Social Media Word of the Year |
| Madlanga Commission G20 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Government of National Unity (GNU) Tariffs Femicide National Dialogue Rage-Bait | Hao khonahale Ama1K Valid Nonchalant Nodolozana OOTD Clock it Aura |
SASL Sign of the Year
Magnificent
So lekker
I Love You
Constitution
The South African Word of the Year is a word, term or expression preferred to reflect the passing year in language. To qualify for consideration, the word(s) must capture the ethos, mood, or preoccupations of 2025. There must be evidence that the usage of the word or expression has significantly increased across a broad range of media in the past 12 months.
The PanSALB Acting Chief Executive Officer, Mr Julius Dantile, said “This year’s shortlist captures the nation’s preoccupations, shaped by the global events, such as the G20, that have influenced our political landscape and national discourse. Whilst the shortlist reflects the weighty topics that dominated the media space over the past 12 months, social media viral slang provides much-needed relief from the heavier themes. Viral linguistic trends on social media, such as ‘Hao khonahale’ and ‘Ama1K’, highlight a lighthearted and humorous side of South Africans amidst the many challenges the country faces. The social media category also highlights the cross-cultural nature of many terms used that resonate across all official languages. The shortlist underscores SA’s 2025 narrative over the past 12 months; a period marked by significant challenges with moments of lightheartedness. Many other strong contenders were considered notably, ‘Oshabeni’ originally the name of a village in KZN that went viral and evolved into slang meaning a state of relaxation or being ‘unbothered,’ illustrating the dynamic evolution of language”.
This year, the campaign has been expanded to include SASL Sign of the Year to determine the most used sign of the year.
Other words/terms that were submitted and considered include Genocide, Bathini bona, 67, Umgowo, Kuzolunga, Ek wietie, Delulu, among others.
ABOUT PanSALB
The Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) is a constitutional body mandated to create conditions for the recognition, implementation and furtherance of multilingualism in the Republic of South Africa, and the development of previously marginalised languages.
