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

'Killed In Action' — a casualty classification for a service member who died directly from enemy action during combat operations.

Pressing all four buttons makes your character flash and pose, and your next attack lands as a guaranteed counter-hit. Stylish, risky, and devastating if you connect.

The single most famous Boston-accent joke in the country. 'Car keys' filtered through a non-rhotic local mouth comes out as 'khakis,' to the eternal confusion of outsiders who think you're asking about pants. Featured in a legendary Tim & Tom Curran sketch and roughly nine million Sully-and-Pauly impressions.

Describing a young woman infatuated with servicemen, swooning over anyone in a khaki uniform.

What you type when actual words fail. Slamming the keyboard to show you are too feral, too obsessed, too floored to form a sentence. The chaos itself is the message.

Before the hanky code took over, men flagged with their keys. A bunch of keys clipped to the left belt loop or hip said top/active; on the right said bottom/receptive. Same left-right logic the hanky code later inherited. Quiet, deniable, readable across a crowded bar — exactly what you needed in an era when being obvious was risky.

The man who 'holds the keys' is the gang's admin on a given pod or block — handles discipline, dues, contraband flow, and beefs with rival cars. Above a regular soldier, sometimes under the shot caller, sometimes the same guy. If you've got a problem, you take it to whoever's holding the keys.

A kilogram (about 2.2 pounds) of cannabis; bulk/trafficking weight.

Used ironically to flag that the writer thinks something is dorky-cool or old-internet.

The standard ballistic helmet, referred to by the material it is made from; also called a K-pot.

From the standard French 'mec' (guy, bloke). Verlan inverts it to 'keum' (also spelled keumeu). It simply means a man or guy.

Used collectively for the police as an institution.

Cockney rhyming slang for a watch, from 'fob watch'; usually clipped to 'kettle'.

Rubbish, offal or waste; in County Durham it also means children's sweets.

A client who cruises red-light streets in a car at walking pace, sizing up workers through the passenger window before pulling over to negotiate. Mostly British usage; the activity itself, 'kerb crawling', is a specific criminal offence in UK law.

Past tense and participle of 'ken'; 'I kent that' means I knew that. A 'weel-kent face' is a well-known one.

A sentence-ender / filler, roughly 'you know' or 'right', used to check the listener's with you or just to round off a thought.

A character who has animal features such as ears and a tail attached to an otherwise human body. Cat-eared 'nekomimi' are the best-known subtype.

A shortened form referring to characters with animal ears and related features such as catgirls; interchangeable with kemonomimi in fan use.

A malevolent water spirit of Scottish folklore, usually appearing as a horse that lures victims into the water.

Shorthand invoking Kelly Slater, the most successful competitive surfer ever, often used as the yardstick for surfing brilliance.

You're laughing at someone, then it U-turns and the joke's on you. KEKWait is that exact beat where the grin drops.

Can carry a slightly mocking edge, laughing AT someone's fail rather than just with the joke.

Means laughter. Originated in World of Warcraft, where Horde players typing 'lol' had it auto-translated to 'kek' for Alliance players. Escaped into Twitch, Discord and 4chan chat where it stuck. Carries slightly more 'laughing AT you' energy than plain lol.