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

A warning or piece of advice to be vigilant, watch out for trouble, or not be naive in a situation.

A throw-bait read: you step in like you'll throw, then walk back so their throw whiffs into thin air, and you punish the recovery with a big combo. The classic answer to a throw-happy opponent.

To hype a cryptocurrency, frequently because you hold it or are paid to. A 'shill' is the person doing the promoting.

Shikena is used to close out a statement or argument, the Nigerian Pidgin equivalent of 'period' or 'that's all there is to it.' It signals there's nothing more to add or debate.

To shake, jiggle or wobble something. A Welsh-English everyday verb borrowed almost wholesale from the Welsh siglo ('to shake'). Used for jellies, ladders, dodgy tables and anything else that won't sit still.

The TikTok-popularised practice of using scripted intentions, meditation and specific 'methods' (Raven, Pillow, Sunni) to mentally relocate your consciousness to a 'desired reality' — often Hogwarts, an anime, or a celebrity's life. Practitioners insist it's not visualisation or lucid dreaming; sceptics insist it absolutely is.

Relocated one's home; 'we shifted' means we moved house.

A kiss with tongues — what the English call a snog. Works as noun ('got the shift off her') or verb ('did you shift anyone last night?'). Ireland's national word for it.

The ski mask itself, often a Nike tech balaclava. Memphis rapper Pooh Shiesty made the look his calling card in 2020 and NYC drill grabbed the word and ran with it — now any face-covering knit is a shiesty.

Pints. Beers. The lagers you're going for after work. Pure Manc — you won't hear it in London, but in a Northern Quarter boozer it lands clean.

A chained sequence of advanced Melee techniques: short hop, throw an aerial, fast fall, then L-cancel the landing to kill the lag. Stack them together and your aerials come out fast with almost no recovery, letting you mix air and ground pressure seamlessly. Bread and butter for high-level Melee.

A cab — a taxi. Sherbet dab rhymes with cab, and like most good Cockney it gets cut down to just 'sherbet'. Bonus layer: 'sherbet' has also long meant a drink, so 'jump in a sherbet' and 'have a sherbet' are two very different nights out.

A sailor who has crossed the equator on a ship and gone through the line-crossing ceremony — the messy, theatrical initiation rite presided over by 'King Neptune.' Before the ceremony you're a slimy pollywog; after, you're a Trusty Shellback with a certificate to prove it. Take it seriously enough that sailors keep their cards for life.

To perform so well that you excite/dominate the crowd; DJs praise an artist who 'shell down di place'.

A woman or girl. Now somewhat dated and can be seen as sexist.

A handsome, charming young man with a way with women.

To be messed up, spoiled or in trouble; 'everything sheg up' = it's all gone wrong.

Years of a prison sentence, counted as 'sheets'.

Became a TikTok sound and trend, often with a specific hand-over-mouth gesture, cementing it as a hype reaction.

Mage crowd control: turn a target into a wandering sheep that can't attack until the spell breaks or someone hits it. Used to take a dangerous mob out of the fight.

Used to seek confirmation of something the speaker assumes is true, functioning much like "abi" but often placed at the beginning of a sentence.

A flapper known for her glamour and ability to charm.

she'll be right

An expression of easy-going optimism that things will turn out okay.

she done already done had herses

Pure RuPaul nonsense-with-a-backstory. The catchphrase he used to launch the 'She-Mail' segment, the daily message to the queens. In plain English it just means 'she already got hers'. The fun is entirely in the delivery, a sing-song relic of a real overheard moment.