Oxford University Press (OUP) have announced the Oxford Children’s Word of the Year for 2025 and it is peace. 35 per cent of children surveyed for the research chose peace, though it was narrowly followed by a third (33 per cent) choosing AI. 21 per cent opted for resilience.

Photo by Kaja Sariwating on Unsplash

The research, carried out in 2025, surveyed opinions from almost 5,000 children across the UK aged 6–14, and highlighted children’s awareness of current affairs. One in ten children mentioned ‘war’ when asked why they chose peace and highlighted specific conflicts such as ‘Ukraine’ and ‘Gaza’. Words such as ‘need’, ‘want’, ‘should’ were frequently mentioned in their answers when calling for peace across the world.

A study of the Oxford Children’s Corpus, the world’s largest database of writing by and for children in the English language containing over half a billion words, reveals mentions of peace in children’s stories submitted to the BBC 500 Words competition has increased by 60 per cent since 2015.

AI selected runner-up for the second year in a row

For the second-year running, AI was selected as runner-up, and when asked why they chose the word a fifth of children (20 per cent) mentioned ‘hearing’ and ‘talking’ about AI highlighting its ubiquitousness in daily life.

When asked how the word made them feel children gave positive responses with more than one in ten using the adjective ‘excited’ or ‘exciting’. More than a quarter of six- to eight-year-olds (29%) chose AI as their word of the year, demonstrating how even very young children are aware of the every-day role AI plays.

Six-seven slang word gives children social currency

Almost half (47 per cent) of children chose six-seven as their slang word of the year, followed by aura (24 per cent) and delulu (7 per cent). Research revealed that the use of six-seven among children fosters inclusivity and social currency, with almost one in ten mentioning ‘friends’ when asked how they use the term and ‘popular’ was frequently mentioned in reference to what six-seven meant to them along with more than one in four (28 per cent) citing ‘fun’ and ‘laugh’.

‘It means whatever you want it to mean’ explained one nine-year old boy, while more than one in ten (12%) of children admitted six-seven had no meaning. Still, most children highlighted the value of such words, with 72 per cent of children stating it was important to have words they only use with friends.

Call for schools to participate in the next Oxford Children’s Word of the Year

OUP is calling for schools to participate in the next Oxford Children’s Word of the Year to further support children’s reading, vocabulary development and oracy skills. Schools are encouraged to hold ‘word of the year’ conversations throughout the school year and vote for their word choice for 2026. OUP has developed an accompanying activity pack with tips and resources for taking part, including how the sessions can encourage book talk and language development. More details on how schools can download the pack and get involved can be found here.

To mark the announcement, and to support the National Year of Reading 2026, OUP will be collaborating with the National Literacy Trust on school events across the UK. The author-led events will encourage children to engage with different forms of reading and reflect on the words they read, hear, speak and learn about.

Andrea Quincey, Director of Early Years and Primary Publishing, Oxford University Press, said: ‘A key theme we see from our Oxford Children’s Word of the Year research is just how attuned children are to current affairs. This year is no different; whether that’s calling for peace in response to current conflicts or highlighting how AI has permeated daily life. Perhaps it’s no surprise that ‘six-seven’ is voted, overwhelmingly, as their slang word of the year. A word which brings them laughter and joy and connection with friends. We see how important it is for children to have agency over their language away from the grown-up world and share words that adults can’t understand.

‘For this reason, we are calling for schools to get involved with our Oxford Children’s Word of the Year research for 2026. Not only do we want to hear from more children, but we also want to hear about colloquial words and capture regional voices. This year’s research demonstrates just how important it is that we continue to research children’s language and support their vocabulary development as it plays a vital role in their self-expression.‘

For more than a decade, experts and academic researchers at OUP have been tracking Children’s Word of the Year, analysing the evolution of children’s language and how it is used to reflect their emotions and experiences.

Previous Oxford Children’s Word of the Year

2024     Kindness

2023     Climate Change

2022     Queen

2021     Anxiety

2020     Coronavirus

2019     Brexit

2018     Plastic

2017     Trump

2016     Refugee

2015     #hashtag

2014     Minion