"C" Slang

catgirl

Internet

A popular kemonomimi type: a human-looking girl with feline ears, tail and sometimes mannerisms, often saying 'nya'.

cathead biscuit

General

A large Southern biscuit shaped by hand rather than cut, said to be about the size of a cat's head.

catjam

Gaming

Marks community sync when everyone's enjoying the same audio moment.

catnap

Street

A brief stretch of incarceration, seen as easy to sleep through.

cats

General

Anyone connected to or fluent in the hip subculture.

catspraddle

General

To tumble or send someone sprawling with limbs splayed like a cat. Also katspraddle.

cattle truck

General

By extension, any overcrowded vehicle or transport.

catty-corner

General

Positioned or set at a diagonal, especially across an intersection. "Cattycorner" is the more Southern-flavored variant.

cattywampus

General

Describes something not properly aligned—tilted, off-kilter, or in disarray. Also spelled catawampus.

cattywampus (variant: catawampus)

General

In an older sense, a fearsome imaginary beast used to frighten, alongside its adjectival "askew" meaning.

catwalk

General

In vogue, the catwalk is the exaggerated feminine walk — one of the five elements of Vogue Femme. The legs cross over each other, the hips thrust hard side to side, and the hands get thrown forward in opposition to the legs, so the whole body works in counter-rhythm. It's the runway model strut pushed to its theatrical extreme: every step a statement. Don't confuse it with the everyday 'catwalk' meaning a fashion runway — in ballroom it's a specific technical move.

cau drws

General

Welsh for 'close the door' (cau = close/shut, drws = door). The phrase every Welsh kid hears a thousand times growing up, usually shouted from the kitchen when someone's let the heat out. Pronounced roughly 'kye droos.'

caught feelings

General

Frames emotions as something that happens to you, almost accidentally.

caught in 4k

Internet

Being exposed doing something with clear evidence, like a screenshot or video, leaving no room to deny it.

caught inside

General

Being unable to paddle out past the breaking surf, so that waves break on top of you and push you toward shore.

caught lacking

Street

Used in gaming when an enemy catches you unaware.

cawfee

General

An eye-dialect spelling of 'coffee' capturing the tensed New York vowel; emblematic of the NYC accent.

cawl

General

A hearty winter soup or stew made with lamb or beef, leeks, potatoes, swede and carrots. The word is also used loosely to mean a mess or muddle. Now in the Oxford English Dictionary.

cayoodle

Street

Louisiana word for a mongrel dog — your classic mixed-breed yard pup of no particular pedigree. Almost always said warmly, like 'good ol' cayoodle'. The root is imitative: an older verb 'kyoodle' meaning to yap or bark, which the OED traces to the noise itself. Big in NOLA and across south Louisiana; rarely heard outside the state.

cb

Internet

Fan shorthand for a group's comeback, used constantly in social-media posts and countdowns.

cba

Internet

Stands for "can't be arsed" (British) or "can't be bothered," expressing unwillingness to do something. Mildly crude in the "arsed" form.

cbc

General

A laboratory test measuring red cells, white cells, hemoglobin, and platelets, used to screen for infection, anemia, and bleeding.

cbd

Street

Cannabidiol, a major cannabinoid that does not produce a high and is used for relaxation and wellness.

cbo

Street

A court order the UK uses to restrict drill rappers' lives — and their lyrics. A CBO can force an artist to give police 24 hours' notice before dropping a song, ban them from naming postcodes, block them from associating with named friends, or stop them performing certain tracks live. Breach it and you go to prison. Digga D famously has one. Skengdo x AM did nine months for performing a banned song.

cease and settle

General

An instruction to stop, calm down and relax. 'Cease and sekkle'.

cefran

General

Can refer to the French language itself.

ceilidh

General

A social event featuring Scottish folk music, dancing and storytelling.

celestial discharge

General

A euphemistic slang term for a patient dying — 'discharged' upward rather than home. Used by clinicians and those who work around them.

cell warrior

Street

A prisoner who talks aggressively and issues threats from the safety of a locked cell but backs down in person. Also called a cell soldier.

cellblock

Street

A distinct housing wing made up of tiers of cells, run as a unit.

cellie

Street

The inmate one shares a cell with. Also 'bunkie' or 'bunkmate.'

celly

General

The person you share a cell with. Closer than a roommate by a wide margin — you eat, sleep, and use the toilet three feet from each other. A good celly makes the bid; a bad one makes you put in for a move.

center

Internet

The visual anchor. The member the camera loves, parked dead-centre for the money shot of every chorus. Often the most popular, sometimes rotated for fairness, always the subject of fan war discourse.

central line

General

A thin tube inserted into a major vein such as the internal jugular or subclavian to give medications, fluids, or blood products and to monitor central pressures.

ceo of

Internet

A joking way to crown someone the ultimate expert or embodiment of a behavior, as if they run a company for it. "CEO of" names them the boss of that trait.

cer i grafu

General

A Welsh dismissal telling someone to clear off.

certi

Street

Short for "certified," used to confirm something is legit, guaranteed, or definitely happening. Saying "certi" affirms a fact or plan.

certified all-kill

Internet

Abbreviated CAK, achieved when a song reaches #1 on all iChart real-time and daily charts but has not yet secured the weekly #1 needed for a PAK.

cex

Internet

A Centralised Exchange is a company-run, custodial platform where users trade crypto through an order book; the operator holds the funds. Binance and Coinbase are examples.

cf

Internet

A commercial film, i.e. a TV or online advert, that an idol appears in as an endorser. High-profile CFs signal an idol's marketability.

cgi

Internet

In texting slang, CGI stands for "can't get it," used to say you don't understand something or can't manage to get hold of it.

cha-ching

Internet

An exclamation imitating a cash register, used when money is made.

chaa

Street

A short, punchy market-slang word for money, used interchangeably with other Otu-Onitsha money-slang terms like 'kpọkọm.'

chacho

General

Short for 'muchacho', used as an exclamation or filler like 'man' or 'geez', and also 'chacha' for a girl.

chad

Internet

Used as praise for someone who does something bold and based.

chadon beni

General

A serrated-leaf herb (culantro) with a strong coriander-like flavour, essential in Trini seasoning and chow. Also 'shado beni'.

chafa

Street

Cheap, shoddy, low quality. The knock-off Jordans, the Bluetooth speaker that dies in a week, the bootleg DVD. If it looks the part but falls apart, it's chafa.

chafdirecto

General

Emphatically cheap or clearly a knockoff.