# Gen Z slang: what the words mean and where they came from

Source: https://decka.dev/ideas/gen-z-slang

Gen Z slang explained: 42 words with meanings, examples and real origins, from rizz to no cap, plus what makes slang age and a quiz to run with a room.

Most Gen Z slang is older than Gen Z. Dictionary.com finds bruh in Black English [in the 1890s](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/bruh/), and clout meaning political influence [in the 1860s](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/clout/). It also quotes Charles Dickens on a voice in a low key [in 1844](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/low-key/). Much of what sounds invented on TikTok last week came from Black American English and from ballroom and LGBTQ+ communities, and reached teenagers a long way down the line.

This is a glossary for a parent, a teacher or a manager who keeps hearing these words and would rather know. Each entry gives the word, what it means, a sentence you might really hear, and where it came from when a dictionary or a reporter could say. Where the sources disagree, we tell you, because slang gets explained badly online.

There are 42 words below. Every one is safe to show a class of twelve-year-olds or a room of colleagues. After the list come where this slang comes from, what makes it age, what we left out, and how to run a slang quiz with a room. If you are here for skibidi, 6-7 or what brain rot means, those are on the [Gen Alpha slang](/ideas/gen-alpha-slang) page.

## Gen Z slang words, A to Z

All of these are safe for a classroom or an office. "Fading" is our own judgment, from when a word peaked in these sources, because nobody measures the day a word dies.

- **ate**: Did something really well. "You saw her solo? She ate." The language show [A Way with Words](https://waywordradio.org/ate-and-left-no-crumbs/) explains the longer "ate and left no crumbs" the same way. It has nothing to do with food.
- **bet**: Yes, agreed. "Pizza at seven?" "Bet." [Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/bet/) finds it in a collection of campus slang by the 1990s, and says Black popular culture likely spread it. Said flatly, it can also mean "yeah, sure".
- **bruh**: A word for a friend, and a groan at something ridiculous. "You left the milk out overnight? Bruh." Far older than it looks: [Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/bruh/) records it in Black English in the 1890s, shortened from "brother".
- **bussin**: Great, amazing. "These tacos are bussin." [Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/bussin) first records it between 2005 and 2010 and calls its origin disputed, so be wary of any page that sounds sure.
- **cheugy**: Out of touch, or trying too hard to be trendy. "Those matching mugs are a bit cheugy." Fading. [Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/cheugy/) shows it spreading from TikTok in 2021, which makes it a good test of how fast these go.
- **clock it**: To notice something most people missed. "She thought nobody saw her take the last slice, but I clocked it." [Florida Today](https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/rizz-6-7-aura-twin-120808184.html) says it can also just mean "I agree".
- **clout**: Influence, especially online. "He only posted that for the clout." [Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/clout/) finds it as slang for political influence in the 1860s, long before anyone had followers.
- **cringe**: Very embarrassing. "My dad's wedding dance was so cringe." The [Cambridge Dictionary](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/cringe) now lists it as an adjective beside the verb.
- **delulu**: Believing something that is not true, usually by choice. "I still think we can win the league. I'm delulu." Short for "delusional", and [added to the Cambridge Dictionary in 2025](https://www.fox5vegas.com/2025/08/18/cambridge-dictionary-adds-skibidi-tradwife-among-6000-new-words/). [Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/delulu/) says it often turns up in jokes and lighthearted mockery.
- **demure**: Refined and well behaved. "I only took one slice. Very demure." [Dictionary.com's Word of the Year for 2024](https://www.dictionary.com/e/word-of-the-year-2024/), from a TikTok creator's "very demure, very mindful". Fading.
- **drip**: A stylish look, especially your clothes. "New jacket? The drip is unreal." [Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/drip/) calls its origin disputed, including among rappers.
- **extra**: Over the top. "A cake for a Tuesday meeting? That's so extra." [Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/extra) gives "over the top; extreme or excessive".
- **finna**: About to. "I'm finna start my homework." A contraction of "fixing to", from Southern American English, which [Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/finna/) says took this form in African American English.
- **fire**: Excellent. "This song is fire." [Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/fire) gives "cool, excellent, exciting".
- **flex**: To show off, or the thing you show off. "He brought his report card to lunch. Weird flex." [Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/flex) notes that a flex is often seen as arrogant.
- **ghost**: To end all contact suddenly, with no explanation. "The recruiter ghosted me after two interviews." [Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/ghost) ties it especially to dating, and has examples from job hunting too.
- **GOAT**: Greatest of all time. "My grandmother's lasagna is the GOAT." The [Cambridge Dictionary](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/goat) says it is used especially in sport.
- **hit different**: To be better in a way that is hard to explain. "Pizza at midnight just hits different." [Parade](https://www.aol.com/lifestyle/55-gen-alpha-slang-words-111000641.html) says it means unique or special.
- **it's giving**: It has the energy of. "Those curtains? It's giving my grandmother's house." [Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/its-giving/) says it began in Black and Latine LGBTQ+ ballroom culture, which developed in New York in the 1960s and 70s.
- **iykyk**: If you know, you know. "That school trip, iykyk." [Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/iykyk/) says it marks an inside joke, usually with no further explanation.
- **let him cook**: Let someone carry on doing what they do well. "He's rewriting the whole plan, but let him cook." Also "let her cook" and "let them cook". [Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/let-him-cook/) says it can be said seriously or as a joke.
- **low-key**: Quietly, without making a big thing of it. "I low-key love this song." [Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/low-key/) traces it to musical pitch and to Dickens in 1844. The adverb arrived in the late 2000s.
- **main character energy**: Acting like the lead in your own story. "She left that meeting with main character energy." Usually praise, though [Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/main-character-energy/) notes it can also mean vain.
- **mid**: Not very good. "The first film was great, but the sequels are mid." [Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/mid/) says it is often a joking put-down of something other people rate highly.
- **mood**: Exactly how I feel. "Monday again." "Mood." The [American Dialect Society](https://americandialect.org/wp-content/uploads/2018-Word-of-the-Year-PRESS-RELEASE.pdf) listed "mood" and "big mood" in its 2018 slang vote, as a "strong emotion of agreement".
- **no cap**: No lie, for real. "Best game I've ever seen, no cap." In [Black slang](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/no-cap/), to cap has meant to brag, exaggerate or lie since the early 1900s. Atlanta hip-hop carried the phrase to everyone else.
- **on fleek**: Perfectly done. "Your eyebrows are on fleek." Long past its peak. [A Chicago teenager coined it](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/on-fleek/) in a 2014 Vine video, and by that fall IHOP was using it.
- **periodt**: End of discussion. "Best pizza in town, periodt." [Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/periodt/) credits Black English, and Southern Black gay slang in particular.
- **receipts**: Proof, usually screenshots. "You said you never said that? I have receipts." [Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/receipts/) says it appears to have started in Black English before it spread.
- **rizz**: Charm, especially the romantic kind. "He talked his way into a second date. Serious rizz." [Oxford's Word of the Year for 2023](https://corp.oup.com/news/rizz-crowned-oxford-word-of-the-year-2023/), believed to be cut from the middle of "charisma". The streamer Kai Cenat [popularized it](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/rizz).
- **salty**: Annoyed, often after losing. "He's still salty about that card game." [Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/salty) says this sense began in Black English.
- **shade**: An indirect insult. "'Nice of you to finally join us' was pure shade." [Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/throwing-shade/) traces it to the 1980s Black and Latino gay community, especially New York's drag scene.
- **sheesh**: A sound of surprise or annoyance. "Sheesh, that line is long." The [Cambridge Dictionary](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/sheesh) lists both.
- **slay**: To do something spectacularly well. "You slayed that presentation." [Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/slay/) says this sense took shape in Black, Latinx and queer ball culture in the 1970s and 80s.
- **stan**: A very devoted fan, or to be one. "I stan this band." The Oxford English Dictionary ties it, [probably](https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/from-8-mile-to-england-eminems-stan-makes-it-into-the-oxford-english-dictionary), to a 2000 Eminem song about an obsessed fan.
- **sus**: Suspicious. "He called in sick on inventory day? Sus." [Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/sus) first records it in the late 1930s. [Inverse](https://inverse.com/gaming/sus-meaning-among-us-definition-origin) says it began as British police jargon, long before the video game people usually credit.
- **tea**: Gossip. "Sit down, I have tea." [Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/tea/) says it was "steeped in black drag culture". To spill the tea is to share it.
- **the ick**: A sudden turn-off from someone you liked. "He clapped when the plane landed, and I got the ick." Older than TikTok: [Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/the-ick/) traces it to a 1999 episode of Ally McBeal.
- **touch grass**: Go outside and log off. "You've been arguing online for six hours. Touch grass." [Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/touch-grass) first records it between 2015 and 2020.
- **understood the assignment**: Did exactly what was needed, and did it well. "You brought snacks for everyone? You understood the assignment." [WKMG News 6](https://clickorlando.com/news/local/2024/10/03/understanding-the-assignment-gen-z-slang-explained) says it is used when someone is giving a task their all.
- **vibe check**: A check on how people are feeling. "Quick vibe check before we start: how is everyone?" [Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/e/pop-culture/vibe-check/) says it can also be a test of whether someone is cool.
- **yeet**: A shout of excitement, now often to throw something hard. "He yeeted his bag into the back seat." Fading. It spread as [an exclamation and a dance](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/yeet/) in Black social media culture in 2014, and the [Cambridge Dictionary](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/yeet) now lists the throwing sense.

## Gen Alpha slang and brainrot words

The next generation has its own list, and it moves faster. Skibidi, sigma, Ohio, aura and 6-7 belong to Gen Alpha, even when Gen Z borrows them. The [Gen Alpha slang](/ideas/gen-alpha-slang) page defines 30 of those words, explains what brain rot really means, and tells the story of 6-7.

## Where Gen Z slang comes from

Teenagers on TikTok spread many of these words. They invented far fewer of them.

**Black American English.** NBC News reported in 2026 that several linguists trace [many of Gen Z's most popular slang words](https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/appreciation-appropriation-black-culture-shaping-gen-z-slang/6485385/) to African American Language. Not all of it comes from there, Georgetown's Minnie Annan told NBC, though "the source of the inspiration" often does. On this page, no cap, bruh, finna, salty and receipts all point that way.

**Ballroom and LGBTQ+ culture.** Slay, shade, tea, it's giving and periodt come through Black and Latino ball culture, drag and Black gay slang, according to the Dictionary.com entries linked above. NBC's sources say the same of [slay and periodt](https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/appreciation-appropriation-black-culture-shaping-gen-z-slang/6485385/). The documentary [Paris Is Burning](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/throwing-shade/) carried some of this language to a wider audience, and RuPaul's Drag Race [carried it further](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/tea/).

**Streaming and gaming.** Rizz is the famous case: NBC describes Kai Cenat, who popularized it, as a [Black Twitch streamer](https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/appreciation-appropriation-black-culture-shaping-gen-z-slang/6485385/).

**Plain old English.** Low-key goes back to Dickens and clout to the 1860s. People have been bending ordinary words into slang for as long as there have been ordinary words.

So when you explain one of these words to a room, say where it came from. It is more interesting than "the kids made it up", and it is more honest. Sonja Lanehart of the University of Arizona [told NBC](https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/appreciation-appropriation-black-culture-shaping-gen-z-slang/6485385/) that the language is not exclusive to African Americans. Jamaal Muwwakkil of the University of Washington is concerned with how it gets treated: speech [deemed uneducated](https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/appreciation-appropriation-black-culture-shaping-gen-z-slang/6485385/) from some Black people is often celebrated from non-Black people.

## What makes slang age

Slang works like a password, and a password stops working once everybody has it. These are the three things that kill it fastest, and the one thing that saves it.

**Too many people know it.** Shane Tilton of Ohio Northern University says a term used to last [about four years](https://spectrumnews1.com/oh/columbus/news/2025/07/02/ohio--has-become-synonymous-with-things-that-are-weird), and that it is now getting quicker.

**A grown-up says it.** The linguist Adam Aleksic puts it best: once your grandmother knows the word "skibidi", he says, [you no longer want to use it yourself](https://www.aol.com/lifestyle/cant-sense-teen-slang-6-100021479.html). Tilton says the same of kids who catch their parents at it.

**It was tied to a meme.** ["When a word gets tied to a meme, it dies out with the meme,"](https://www.aol.com/lifestyle/cant-sense-teen-slang-6-100021479.html) Aleksic says. That is why so much of [Gen Alpha's brainrot list](/ideas/gen-alpha-slang) will look strange soon.

**What saves it is a new job for an old word.** Aleksic's example is [awesome](https://www.aol.com/lifestyle/cant-sense-teen-slang-6-100021479.html), which meant fear and dread in the 16th century and something great by the 1970s. The linguist Ben Zimmer says jazz musicians of [the 1940s](https://www.vocabulary.com/articles/wordroutes/when-cool-got-cool/) made cool a universal sign of approval. Its lasting appeal, he writes, may come from what the linguist Donna Jo Napoli calls its ["underspecified" nature](https://www.vocabulary.com/articles/wordroutes/when-cool-got-cool/), which fits nearly anywhere.

On this page, on fleek, cheugy, yeet and demure are the ones we would call fading. Any list like this one goes stale, so check the date at the top.

## What this list leaves out, on purpose

This page is written for rooms with twelve-year-olds and colleagues in them, so some of the most repeated words on other lists are missing. That was a choice, and here is what it covers.

- **Sexual terms,** including words that sound innocent but are widely used with a sexual meaning.
- **Drug slang,** including compliments that also mean drunk or high.
- **Slurs,** and words used to put down a group of people.
- **Words that rate bodies or looks.** [Florida Today](https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/rizz-6-7-aura-twin-120808184.html) describes one recent word for unattractive as usually used in a bullying context.
- **Jokes at a generation's expense.** Slang that exists to mock people for their age is not worth teaching.
- **Named meme characters,** and anything else that would only make sense with a video attached.

If you hear a word that is not here, look it up on your own before you repeat it in front of a room. If a child asks you what one of those words means, answer plainly and briefly. A word gets less interesting the moment an adult explains it calmly.

## Should adults use Gen Z slang

Mostly no, and you can relax about that. Asked how parents can keep up, Aleksic says the slang is ["not meant for you"](https://www.aol.com/lifestyle/cant-sense-teen-slang-6-100021479.html). He also says the [best way to kill it for sure](https://www.aol.com/lifestyle/cant-sense-teen-slang-6-100021479.html) is to start using it yourself, which is useful if one word is driving you up the wall.

Knowing a word is different from performing it. Here is what that looks like in practice.

**At home.** Ask what a word means. Most kids love being the expert, and you will learn more from the explanation than from this page.

**In a classroom.** Use it as a lesson in how language changes. Bruh, clout and awesome will do more for that lesson than a textbook, and nobody has to pretend to be cool.

**At work.** Understand it, and leave it out of the all-hands. A manager saying "slay" in a quarterly review is a sentence nobody recovers from. A manager losing a slang quiz to the newest hire is a much better afternoon.

## How to run a slang quiz with a room

The best version of this game puts one grown-up against everyone else. The teacher, the manager or the parent plays along and loses in public, and the room gets to be the expert. Everyone joins from their own phone with a code, with no app and no account.

**Start from a ready-made quiz.** Make a [live quiz](/activities/live-quiz) in Decka and open "More" above the form. "The Gen Z Slang Quiz" is there. It fills the form with its questions, and you can change any of them.

**Test meaning, not age.** Every question uses the word in a sentence, so someone who has never heard it can still work it out. Nobody should lose because of their birth year, and the wrong answers are written to embarrass nobody.

**Stop after each answer.** Ask someone who got it right to explain the word and use it in a sentence. That is the part people remember, and it is where the room teaches the grown-up.

**Say where it came from.** Pick two or three words and tell the room the history from this page. "Bruh" being on record in the 1890s gets a better reaction than the leaderboard does.

**Keep to these words.** Every word in the quiz is on this page and has been checked for a room of twelve-year-olds. If you add your own, look it up first, and keep every question about a word and never about a person in the room. The same rule runs through [hot takes](/ideas/hot-takes).

**For a longer game, use a board.** [Questionable!](/activities/questionable) is a Jeopardy-style game that the whole room plays at once. Open "More" and pick "Gen Z & Gen Alpha slang". It has six categories of five clues, including Brainrot and From the Ballroom, plus Older Than You Think, which gives the grown-ups a real chance. The team in control votes for a clue, everyone answers on their phone, and the team's most popular answer is the one that counts.

The two decks on this page have all of that ready to open:

- **Slang quiz: the grown-up against the room** has the room bet on how the grown-up will do, then runs twelve Gen Z words.
- **Grown-ups against kids: the slang board** is the board game, with two teams that people choose on their phones.

If you want more rounds after that, the [Gen Alpha slang](/ideas/gen-alpha-slang) page has quizzes on Gen Alpha words, on brainrot and on 6-7. The [trivia questions](/ideas/trivia-questions) article has plenty that need no slang dictionary.

Jeopardy! is a registered trademark of Jeopardy Productions, Inc., including for [online games](https://tsdr.uspto.gov/statusview/sn86460595). Decka is not affiliated with the show or its owners. We name it only to say what the format is like, and Questionable! uses none of the show's names or catchphrases.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is the most common Gen Z slang?

Words like rizz, no cap, bet, slay, mid, tea, sus and low-key turn up everywhere, and most of them are older than the people using them. Bet is [on record by the 1990s](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/bet/), and bruh [goes back to the 1890s](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/bruh/). Oxford made rizz [its Word of the Year for 2023](https://corp.oup.com/news/rizz-crowned-oxford-word-of-the-year-2023/).

### What does rizz mean?

Charm, especially the romantic kind. Oxford believes it is [cut from the middle of the word charisma](https://corp.oup.com/news/rizz-crowned-oxford-word-of-the-year-2023/), and it was [Oxford's Word of the Year for 2023](https://corp.oup.com/news/rizz-crowned-oxford-word-of-the-year-2023/). The streamer Kai Cenat [popularized it](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/rizz).

### What does no cap mean?

No lie, for real. In Black slang, to cap has meant [to brag, exaggerate or lie since the early 1900s](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/no-cap/), and Atlanta hip-hop carried the phrase to everyone else. People add it after a claim that sounds hard to believe.

### What does slay mean?

To do something spectacularly well. Dictionary.com says this sense [took shape in Black, Latinx and queer ball culture in the 1970s and 80s](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/slay/), and that it spread through drag culture long before it reached TikTok.

### What does mid mean?

Not very good. It is often [a joking put-down](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/mid/) of something other people rate highly, as in saying the sequels are mid. Dictionary.com says it [seems to have started as a shortening](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/mid/) of the word middle.

### What is the difference between Gen Z slang and Gen Alpha slang?

Mostly who says it and how fast it moves. Gen Z slang leans on [Black American English and ballroom culture](https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/appreciation-appropriation-black-culture-shaping-gen-z-slang/6485385/). Gen Alpha slang leans more on streamers, games and memes, and much of it means very little. Words like skibidi and 6-7 are explained on the [Gen Alpha slang](/ideas/gen-alpha-slang) page.

### Where does Gen Z slang come from?

Much of it comes from Black American English and from ballroom and LGBTQ+ communities, and it spread to teenagers through social media. Linguists [told NBC News](https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/appreciation-appropriation-black-culture-shaping-gen-z-slang/6485385/) that many of the most popular words trace back to African American Language. [Slay](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/slay/), [shade](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/throwing-shade/), [tea](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/tea/) and [it's giving](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/its-giving/) all came through ball culture or drag.

### How do you run a Gen Z slang quiz?

Put one grown-up against the room, with everyone answering on their own phone. Use each word in a sentence, so the quiz tests meaning rather than age, and ask someone to explain each answer. Decka's quiz has a ready-made Gen Z round, and Questionable!, a Jeopardy-style game for teams, has a full slang board.

## Activities

- [Live Quizzes](https://decka.dev/activities/live-quiz.md): Timed questions, live leaderboard
- [Questionable!](https://decka.dev/activities/questionable.md): Team trivia where everyone answers every clue

[Slang quiz: the grown-up against the room](https://decka.dev/templates/slang-quiz-the-grown-up-against-the-room-3159a72e0f8c.md)

[Grown-ups against kids: the slang board](https://decka.dev/templates/grown-ups-against-kids-the-slang-board-46ebdd6082ee.md)