What does “aura farming” mean?
Aura farming is doing things purely to seem cool: the pose, the slow turn, the deliberate silence. It is “aura” treated as points you can grind for.
Where it comes from
A 2025 extension of “aura” (coolness, presence), with “farming” borrowed from video games, where you farm points. It took off with a video of an eleven-year-old boy dancing with total composure at the front of a racing boat in Indonesia, which the internet called the purest aura farming ever filmed. Dictionary.com put the phrase on its 2025 Word of the Year shortlist.
Aura Farming in a sentence
- He stood in the rain without an umbrella. Aura farming.
- Stop aura farming and help me carry the groceries.
Can you say it at work?
As a joke about someone posing, yes. It is affectionate when it is said to a friend’s face.
Related
Slang: aura · sigma · main character energy
Words: nonchalant · sprezzatura
More slang
rizz · delulu · mid · situationship · the ick · beige flag · All 49
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