Our Most Popular Words of the Year 2025

Which words caught your eye?

At Roots2Words, we dispense a lot of vivacious vocabulary in any given week, and those weeks add up to a considerable wealth of words in a year’s time. But not all words prove equally interesting to our readers, nor are the most engaging the ones I would expect. Considering how uninspiring the dictionary-declared 2025 Words of the Year are, a review of the 10 most popular words on this site seems more entertaining.

Note that we won’t be reviewing our most popular posts of 2025. Our vocabulary audits and quizzes (both weekly and monthly) routinely draw more attention than daily words. Also, some of our Saturday Surprise posts stood out as particularly popular:

• ECTO-, ENDO-, and MESO-

• Elements in English: BRASS

• NEOLOGISMS 2025: New Cambridge Words

With prologue out of the way, we can move on to the main event. What were the most popular words on Roots2Words in 2025?

10. BLINKERED
    blinkered (adj) - having a limited or narrow perspective; unable to take a broad view of things; wearing blinders [bling-kerd]

9. PABLUM
   pablum (noun) - bland, simplistic, or empty fare, usually referring to ideas or entertainment; any easily absorbed nutritional substance [pab-luhm]

8. MALLEABLE
   malleable (adj) - able to be shaped or molded through force; pliable, adaptable, or easily influenced [mal-ee-uh-buhl]

7. PREDISPOSE
   predispose (verb) - to make someone inclined to think or act a certain way in advance; to make susceptible [pree-di-spohz]

6. IMPEL
   impel (verb) - to drive, force or urge; to impart motion to [im-pel]

5. BENIGN
   benign (adj) - kind, compassionate, or gentle; propitious; not harmful, threatening, or serious [bih-nahyn]

4. MISCELLANY
   miscellany (noun) - an assortment or collection of various, diverse, or unrelated things [mis-uh-ley-nee]

3. PERVADE
   pervade (verb) - to spread through; to permeate [per-veyd]

2. PONTIFICATE
   pontificate (verb) - to speak or expound in a dogmatic and pompous manner; to act or officiate as a pontiff [pon-tif-i-keyt]

1. EPISTOLARY
   epistolary (adj) - pertaining to, composed of, or in the form of letters; related to correspondence or communication [ih-pis-tl-er-ee]

EPISTOLARY was not only our most popular word of 2025 but possibly our most popular post ever.

What makes this array of words more popular than others from the year? I have some thoughts but wonder what possible patterns you see. Let us know!