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

Slang for money, riffing on guacamole's green color to stand in for dollar bills.

A pharmacy and IV abbreviation meaning drops, used for dosing liquids or setting infusion rates.

Stands for "got to go," signaling that you need to leave the chat. Sometimes written G2G.

A penetrating injury caused by a bullet; a common trauma-bay chief complaint.

GSOH is longstanding personal-ad shorthand indicating that someone has, or is seeking, a good sense of humour.

An acronym for "get ready with me," labeling a video where the creator narrates while doing their makeup, hair, or outfit. A popular content format.

The infantryman. The guy who actually walks the ground, carries the rifle, and takes the fight to the enemy. Popularised during Vietnam and worn as a badge of honour — grunts will tell you everyone else in the military exists to support them. Origin is disputed: either the noise made under a heavy ruck, or a backronym (Ground Replacement UNTrained).

grumpy/sunshine

A pairing dynamic where one half scowls at the world and the other half radiates joy until the scowler quietly melts. The grumpy one is only soft for the sunshine one — that's the whole appeal. Powers half of contemporary BookTok romance.

Choosing to remain in a role while exhibiting a consistently discontented, irritable attitude, often driven by job dissatisfaction, a toxic environment, or an uncertain job market.

Underpants. Same job as 'duds' or 'kegs' — the under-layer. Short for 'grundies', which itself is rhyming slang (Reg Grundy = undie).

To wipe out or fall off in a messy, tumbling fashion. Roughly interchangeable with eating it.

As a verb, to eat — often heard as 'grub down' or 'grubbing.'

A set of low-cost, creative, often experimental techniques aimed at rapidly growing users or revenue.

A type of surfboard with a short, wide shape designed to perform in small, mushy waves.

A draw in which several strong sides are grouped together, meaning a good team is bound to be eliminated early.

A cosplay where several people dress as characters from the same series or theme and appear together, often the centerpiece of a con photo shoot.

A swell that has traveled thousands of miles across open ocean, producing powerful, well-organized waves with a long period between them.

A foot soldier — Army or Marine infantry who move and fight on the ground, as distinct from aviators or vehicle crews. Also written 'ground pounder.'

The monotonous sense that each day of a deployment repeats exactly like the last.

A member of the infantry, so called because they cover ground on foot.

The standard gear scattered across the map floor, in buildings and bins. It's the baseline you scrape together on landing before you find anything special. Reliable, but rarely the good stuff.

A major Rastafarian gathering of prayer, drumming, chanting and reasoning.

Unpleasant, dirty, nasty. Coined in Liverpool — the Beatles popularised it in 'A Hard Day's Night' (1964) where it's used to describe naff shirts. Now standard British slang for anything grim, mucky or low-quality.

Wonderful, fashionable, or deeply satisfying; the all-purpose hippie stamp of approval.