On January 8, we met the most crucial word of 2025. net users chose Spaceand the linguist chapter the word drone.
The plebiscite Word of the Year is organized by the Institute of Polish Language University and the Foundation of Polish Language. The word competition, which is most characteristic of the last 12 months, consists of an online vote and the selection of a linguist chapter.
On January 8, representatives of the jury presented and discussed the results of this year's edition of the plebiscite. The gathering can be viewed on YouTube channel UW >>
Almost 1,400 votes were cast in the online plebiscite this year. The title of the nationwide word of the year chosen in the online vote reached the word Space. In second place was the word droneand on the third – veto.
Similar words, although in another order, distinguished the body of linguists and journalists – she chose the word of the year 2025 drone, second place vetoand on the 3rd Space.
Voting rules
The vote in the online competition ended on 31 December. The participants of the plebiscite could give their vote in 2 ways – by selecting a word or expression from the list made available by the organizers or by submitting their own proposal (a single or two-word lexical unit).
Independent of the vote of the net choice of the Word of the Year, the jury of the competition is conducted under the patronage of the Council of Polish Language, which includes: prof. Andrzej Blikle, prof. Jerzy Bralczyk, ed. Bartek Chaciński, prof. Katarzyna Kłosińska, prof. Ewa Kołodziejek, ed. Teresa Kruszona, ed. Agnieszka Kunikowska, prof. Jan Miodek, prof. Jerzy Podrecki, prof. Renata Przybylska, prof. Michał Rusinek, prof. Barbara Sobczak, ed. The secretary of the plebiscite chapter is prof. Marek Łaziński of the Faculty of Polish Studies of the University of Warsaw.
Linguistics comments on selected words
“KOSMOS is an old Greek word (κόσμος) meaning originally ‘space’, ‘order’ or ‘beautiful’ (hence cosmetics). In the astronomical sense, the “universe, extraterrestrial space” of space is popular in central European languages (popularized in Alexander von Humboldt's work). In English, extraterrestrial space is alternatively called space. In Polish, the word recorded for the first time in the Vilnius Dictionary (1861). In 2025, the frequency of space and space terms was primarily associated with the participation of Dr. Sławomir Uznański-Wiśniewski on his journey to the global Space Station. Dr. Uznański-Wiśniewski we call astronaut (This word was on the plebiscite selection list), the first Pole in space, Gen. Mirosław Hermaszewski, we called it in 1978 a cosmonaut. Words Space and Space have a affirmative evaluation function in the Polish region, e.g. but space”.
‘DRON is an unmanned aircraft. In Polish dictionaries late noted (wsjp.pl), the first appearances in the text corps date back to 2000. The word is derived from English, where drones It is in the first sense of ‘poison’. The method meaning of the militaristic words developed in the 1930s. The 20th century by association with the silent flight of the drone. Selection drone In Poland, he is associated with the war in Ukraine and incidents of violation of Polish airspace. Drone was not a peculiarly common word only in 2025, but in a longer period. Only a fewer years ago, he called associations with a controlled flying toy or various civilian flying devices."
