SPANISH WORD OF THE YEAR: MY PERSONAL CHOICE

SPANISH WORD OF THE YEAR: MY PERSONAL CHOICE

As 2025 comes to an end, there is a word in Spain that seems to be on everybody’s lips. It has dominated the news—morning, afternoon, and night—throughout the year. The Real Academia Española will no doubt make its own selection, but my choice, as an eyewitness to daily usage, is CORRUPCIÓN.

Corrupción—corruption, the state of being corrupt, marked by dishonest practices such as bribery, lack of integrity, and crookedness—has become part of Spain’s everyday political vocabulary. Corruption appears to be perceived as widespread within the Spanish government and, more specifically, within the governing Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE). The words CORRUPCIÓN and CORRUPTO are now common currency on radio and television, in cafés, and at tertulias, both private and public.

My Random House Dictionary does not mince words: “CORRUPT applies to one, especially in public office, who acts on mercenary motives, without regard to honor, right, or justice. A corrupt politician is one originally honest who has succumbed to temptation and begun questionable practices.” It is hard to imagine a definition more painfully apt to current discourse.

Let us hope that Spanish democracy proves resilient enough to withstand this climate of perceived corruption—and that in 2026 the word corrupción will lose its grim prominence and quietly retreat into linguistic oblivion.