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.

Browse slang by category

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

Browse slang by letter

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Latest slang terms

A greeting like 'what's up,' but with tone can also be a confrontational 'you got a problem?'

The Detroit hello. 'Doe' here is the city's pet term of address — closer to 'dude' or 'bro' than the deer. Drop it on a Detroiter and you've said you know the city. Drop it anywhere else and you've outed yourself as from the D.

A characteristically Welsh way of prefacing an explanation or an excuse.

An expression of agreement or recognition that something is true and real.

The classic H-Town hello. Means 'what's up?' or 'what's going on?' Paul Wall hammered it into the culture with 'What it do, it's Paul Wall, I'm the People's Champ.' Often stretched to 'what it dew' in the slow-drag Houston drawl.

what in the sam hill

An exclamation of bafflement or annoyance that avoids saying "hell" or "the devil."

what in tarnation

An exclamation of surprise or annoyance; a genteel stand-in for stronger language.

A greeting meaning 'how are you?' Often shortened to 'bout ye?'. Northern Irish.

Occasionally used sincerely for a genuinely good break, though the sarcastic sense dominated.

A wharf rat is a thief who prowls the wharves and riverfronts, stealing cargo and robbing sailors and dockworkers.

A greeting meaning 'what's happening?'. Also 'wha'ppen'.

Family in the broad Māori sense, encompassing extended relatives and sometimes close friends and community.

An exclamation questioning someone's behaviour or sense. Also 'wah do you'.

A casual greeting or question meaning 'what happened' / 'what's going on'. Also 'whappen'.

Monitoring large wallets and transactions to guess where the market may head, using on-chain data or alert services to follow what whales are buying or selling.

An individual or entity holding enough of a cryptocurrency to sway its price with one trade. Whales are watched closely because their moves can trigger volatility.

To whack someone is to kill them, typically a sanctioned Mafia hit. A person who is killed is 'whacked.'

A casual Jamaican greeting meaning 'what's going on' or 'what's up'.

Shortened cousin of WAGMI, dropped into Crypto Twitter and Discord chats when the chart is red and morale needs propping up. Same hopium, fewer letters. Used unironically by true believers and ironically by everyone watching them.

An acronym for working from home instead of the office.

Yes — but with feeling. Closer to 'absolutely', 'obviously', 'too right'. Often capped with 'man' regardless of who you're talking to: 'wey aye, man'. The single most stereotyped Geordie phrase, and still used constantly.

Used as a mild insult meaning 'idiot' or 'dummy' depending on tone.

A widely used app where artists share posts and interact with fans, and where official fandom content and merch live. Named specifically, it has become a genre-wide fixture.

To stab or shoot someone — making them bleed, getting them 'wet'. Core drill vocab on both sides of the Atlantic, though London drill leans more knife-coded than US drill which leans gun-coded.