English dictionary, thesaurus, translations & etymology

Slang Dictionary — Modern Slang, Decoded

What does that word actually mean? Our slang dictionary explains modern slang clearly — Gen Z, internet, British and street slang — with real definitions, examples and where each term came from.

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Gen Z Slangrizz, delulu, slay Internet Slangbrainrot, based, mid British Slangpeng, bare, peak AAVEbussin, finna, cap

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Latest slang terms

pillow princess

Someone, classically a femme, who prefers to lie back and receive pleasure rather than give it. Not an insult so much as a stated preference, though it gets thrown as a playful jab. The 'princess' is doing very little work and very much enjoying herself.

A soft, rounded mound of deep snow sitting on top of a rock, stump, or log, which riders drop onto and off in sequence. Pillow lines are a prized backcountry feature.

Navy slang for a hospital corpsman, who provides medical care to sailors and Marines.

The times when nurses hand out prescribed medications to inmates, often several times a day.

Trade nickname for a pile driver — the workers who pound timber, steel or concrete piles into the ground for piers, bridges, skyscrapers and waterfront builds. Heavy, loud, dangerous work; the union (Pile Drivers, part of the Carpenters) wears the name with pride.

In plural, an outfit or set of clothes generally.

The standard Pidgin word for a child, whether referring to your own kid or a young person in general.

A crumpet. Same yeasty, holey, butter-soaking breakfast disc — just what they're called round Birmingham, Wolverhampton and the wider West Midlands. Some say a pikelet is the thinner, holier, no-mould version; in Brum it's just the word. From the Welsh 'bara pyglyd' — pitchy bread.

A short length of wire spliced into a wire-nutted bundle, with its free end landing on a device terminal. Lets you join two or more circuit conductors together and feed a single device off them — instead of looping the circuit through the device itself (where a bad receptacle would break everything downstream). Code-required on multi-wire branch circuits.

Slang for the football itself, a holdover from when balls were made from animal hide.

A brevity code giving the magnetic bearing and range from an aircraft to a specified destination, usually home plate or the ship.

A backside barrel-riding stance where the surfer crouches low and grabs the outside rail to hold their line inside the tube.

Seriously attractive. Used about a person — usually a girl — who turns heads. The MLE equivalent of saying someone is a stunner, but blunter and more streetwise.

A sandwich. The classic Scottish packed-lunch staple — a jeely piece, a piece on ham, a chip piece. Comes from 'a piece of bread'. Immortalised in the folk song 'The Jeely Piece Song'.

A silly person. A daft so-and-so. Affectionate more than savage — closer to 'wally' than 'idiot'. Sits in the same Black Country drawer as 'yampy' for someone whose lights are on but no one's home.

Deliberately pursuing people who are recently hurt or emotionally vulnerable, on the assumption they'll be low-maintenance or easy to win over. A predatory pattern.

A traditional London working-class dish: a minced-beef pie with mashed potato and 'liquor', a green parsley sauce.

A whole pizza (as opposed to a slice). Ordering 'a pie' means the entire round.

Describes a small or insignificant amount.

An inmate who works in the piddlin' shop — the craft room where eligible prisoners tool leather, carve wood, paint, and produce goods to sell to the public. Earned through good behaviour, done after duty hours. Pays just enough to buy commissary, gamble small, and post the odd thing home. Particularly associated with Texas prisons.

To waste time on trifles or potter around ineffectually; "piddlin'" also means meager.

Player Identification Number. In RuneScape the engine gives every player a PID, and the lower one's actions process first. In PvP that means whoever has PID can land the first hit, eat first, or pray-switch first.

A brevity code requesting the controller provide the mission-relevant air picture, typically referenced to the bullseye, so aircrew understand the disposition of contacts.

Describing hair that is short, kinky and uncombed. Also picky-picky.