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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

A defender known for that kind of suffocating coverage.

Very hungry — the kind of hungry where you'd eat the leg off the table. From the older northern English clem, meaning to be pinched with hunger. Geordies drop the g and stretch it out: clammin'.

Filling a small enclosed space with cannabis smoke so everyone in it breathes the smoke; synonymous with hotboxing.

Gossip, idle chatter, tittle-tattle. The kind of news that travels round the village faster than the post. Can be the gossip itself or the act of gossiping.

Sticky, gummy, unpleasantly tacky. Used of mud that won't shake off your boots, pastry that's gone wrong, hair after a swim, or any texture that clings when it shouldn't. Common across Northern England, strongest in the North East.

Sticky stuff — mud, glue, gunk, anything that clings. The noun behind 'claggy'.

The civilian world — life after you've handed in your kit and walked out the gate for the last time. Used by serving and ex-forces alike: 'back on civvy street' means back to a normal job, normal clothes ('civvies'), no one shouting at you at six in the morning. Often spoken with a mix of relief and dread.

Inside, a 'civvy' is a proper tailor-made cigarette — straight off a production line, in a packet — rather than something rolled from pouch tobacco. Rarer, classier, worth more on the wing. The name borrows from 'civilian': it's the smoke you'd have on the outside.

Whatever you wear when you're off duty and out of uniform. Jeans, a hoodie, trainers — anything that doesn't have your name tape on it. Brit and Commonwealth forces use it constantly; Americans say it too. Also gets stretched to mean civilians themselves ('the civvies won't get it').

An amino acid (often L-citrulline or citrulline malate) used as a nitric-oxide booster to improve blood flow and enhance the muscle pump during training.

City + idiot. The townie's word for the visitor who tailgates on a dirt road, can't back a trailer, and asks where the Whole Foods is. Heavy use across Up North Michigan, the Adirondacks, and any tourist-overrun rural pocket.

circuit breaker

A circuit breaker is a regulatory mechanism that halts trading market-wide when an index falls a set percentage, to curb panic. On the S&P 500, a 7% drop triggers a Level 1 halt and 13% a Level 2 halt of 15 minutes.

circling the drain

Describes a patient whose condition is steadily worsening and who is expected to die despite intervention. Abbreviated CTD.

A community or thread where the same opinion gets repeated, upvoted and high-fived until dissent is impossible. Everyone's stroking everyone else's ego — hence the name. Used as an accusation when a sub becomes too predictable or hostile to outside views.

To revisit a discussion or task at a later time.

A roundabout. Only in Dundee. Ask for directions anywhere else and 'take the third exit at the circle' will get you a confused stare.

A left-handed person; also used for the left hand itself.

Tumblr-born tag for a character who is gentle, kind, and a little soft — the one you'd shield from any plot twist. Full phrase is 'cinnamon roll too good for this world, too pure for this world,' from a 2013 meme. Lives on in BookTok as the opposite of the morally grey guy.

Used more broadly for a look that's tight, sharp, and perfectly pulled-together.

From the standard French 'merci' (thank you). Verlan inverts mer-ci to ci-mer. It means thanks, in a relaxed register.

A cigarette. Used everywhere in the UK and Ireland, Scouse included. The diminutive 'ciggy' is fond and casual — what you bum off your mate outside the pub.

Welsh for 'fair play' (chwarae = play, teg = fair). Used exactly like the English 'fair play to him' — acknowledging someone did the right thing, made a good effort, or deserves credit. Pronounced roughly 'CHWA-rye teg.' Drops naturally into English sentences across Wales.

A humorous term for adolescents who act out chuunibyou fantasies, believing they have secret powers or a hidden dark past, as parodied in shows about the trope.

Excessive trading in a customer's account by a broker whose real motivation is the commission on every ticket, not the client's investment goals. Illegal under SEC and FINRA rules. The tell is high turnover with no coherent strategy, the account bleeding fees while the broker pads his number.