The Council of Polish Linguists announced ‘drone’ as the word of the year 2025 in Poland, highlighting the significance of this term in public discussions about technology and safety.
In the trio of words for 2025, ‘veto’ and ‘space’ also appeared, indicating a wide range of topics that have concerned society over the year. Such conclusions reflect the tendency to use cutting-edge technologies and space topics in everyday language.
In the online readers’ poll, the winner was ‘space’, with ‘drone’ and ‘space’ occupying second and third place respectively.
Jerzy Bralczyk explained that the words of the year reflect the main topics and problems of society; ‘drone’ became the symbol of the year due to the concerns it raises about technology and safety.
In Poland, the determination of the word of the year has been ongoing for 15 years: online voting records about around 21 terms that were most frequently mentioned in Polish media in 2025. Among them are concepts such as ‘ceasefire’, ‘court’, ‘astronaut’, ‘voices’, ‘diversion’, and ‘housing’, etc. Also noted are parallel approaches – the Council of Linguists and journalists usually determine their versions of the word of the year.
In 2024, the word of the year was named ‘coalition’, and among online listeners – ‘artificial intelligence’. It is also reported that 48% of Poles support accepting refugees from Ukraine, while 46% oppose. The majority of citizens (51.6%) consider the most likely scenario for the end of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2026 to be a long-term freezing of the conflict.
Key Trends for 2025 in Poland
The word of the year ‘drone’ reflects society’s concerns about rapid technological changes and their impact on daily life, safety, and privacy. Meanwhile, ‘space’ indicates growing interest in exploration and ambitions in the space sector and new opportunities for the national image in the information space.