Ultimate List Of Teen Slang Words Every Parent Should Know

Teen slang is not only confusing but changing constantly.

These words are used by kids to prove their independence, sound cool, and fit in with their peers.

Although we don’t recommend that we “boomers” start using teen slang (let’s face it, we won’t look cool), it is important to know what our children are talking about.

While most slang is harmless, there are a few slang words relating to sex and drugs that we should be aware of.

We’ve listed most of the teen slang words, abbreviations, social media acronyms, and compound slang in alphabetical order.

Use this guide as a reference to understand and translate what your teenager is saying.

Also, to find out more about the hand signs teens use read: “Teen Hand Signs Meaning With Pictures.”

Let’s dive in.

List Of Teen Slang Words & Abbreviations That Every Parent Should Know

07 – Salute. O depicts the head and the 7 is the arm up giving a salute

:3 – Is used to show a coy smile

53X – Sex

9 – Parent watching

Adulting – Do things that adults have to do (get a job, pay tax, clean the house)

AF –  As F***. Used to emphasize something: “He’s cool AF.”

AFK – Away From Keyboard.

Addy – Short for “Adderall,” which is used for treating ADHD, but can also be abused recreationally.

Bae – ‘Before Anyone Else’. Babe or baby.Used to describe a boyfriend, girlfriend, or good friend.

Basic – Boring, average, mainstream, or unoriginal.

Bet – Acknowledgment, like “sure” or “you bet”.

BDE – Big D*** Energy. Means that someone has confidence. It’s the opposite of being cocky or having toxic masculinity. A person’s confidence comes through just like that of a well-endowed man. It can be used for both men and women.

Boo – Boyfriend or girlfriend.

Boo’d (or booed) up – To be in a romantic relationship.

Bop – A good song or good beat.

Bougie/boujee – Aspiring to be higher class, rich or fancy (from bourgeois).

Breadcrumbing –  Leading someone on romantically or sending out flirtatious, but-noncommittal text messages.

Break Green – Sharing marijuana with others.

Bruh – A more modern version of “bro.”

Bussin – great or yummy ‘This food is bussin!’

Cancel – To dismiss, reject or remove someone or something from your life.

Cap – To ‘cap’ is to lie about something vs ‘no cap’ which means to tell the truth.

Clapback – a quick, sharp comeback in response to criticism.

Catch Feels – To have romantic feelings towards someone.

Catfish – Someone who pretends to be someone else by creating a fake personal profile on social media, either for dating or sexual purposes.

Cheugy – out of style

Cringey – embarrassing or awkward.

Crunk – Getting high and drunk at the same time, or crazy and drunk.

Curve – To reject someone’s romantic advances.

CU46 – See You For Sex.

D4h9 – Down for hiney.

Dayger – Party during the day.

Dead/Dying – You can’t take it, it’s just too funny, can’t handle it. (TD: To Die).

Done – To be completely over something (task, person, emotion, or situation); or to be drunk.

Dope – Cool or awesome.

Down in the DM – Using (DM=Direct Message) on social media to filter through people to find a casual hookup, and/or ask for nude photos.

Drip – Style or swag- ‘I like your drip.’

DTF – Down To F***.

Extra – To be extra is to be unnecessarily dramatic or over the top.

Fak – “Safe” version of F***.

Fam – A person’s actual family, or one’s closest friends.

Finna – Abbreviation of “fixing to” or planning to do something

Finsta – Fake Instagram. A second Instagram account is often used to be less public and is often more real.

Fire – Hot, awesome, amazing 🔥

Flex– To show off 💪

FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out. (Antonym: JOMO – Joy Of Missing Out)

FR – For Real.

Function/Func – Party.

FWB – Friends With Benefits.

Gatsbying – Posting to social media to attract one’s romantic interest’s attention.

Ghost – to suddenly cut off all communication and avoid someone (friend or someone you’re dating).

GNOC – Get Naked On Camera.

GOAT – Greatest Of All Time.

Go off – Rant about something or someone you’re mad about.

Gucci – Good, cool, or going well.

Hangry – Hungry and angry.

HBIC – Head Bitch In Charge.

HBU – How About You? 

Hooking up – This could refer to anything from making out to having sex.

Hundo P – One Hundred Percent.

IDGAF – I Don’t Give A F***.

IDK – I Don’t Know

Igging – To ignore or snub someone.

🤓 You might also like to explore these Mean Insults Without Cursing

IK/IKR – I Know/I Know, Right?!

IRL – In Real Life.

Juul/Juuling – Vaping from a Juul (e-cigarette that looks like a USB flash drive).

Keep it 💯 – Be authentic, keep it real.

KMS – Kill Myself or Kill Me Slowly. Generally used as a melodramatic expression.

KYS – Kill Yourself.

LMR / Like Recent – Asking followers to like his/her most recent post

Lit –  Something is really cool. Or you are high/drunk. .

Ligma –  An internet hoax made up by juvenile online gamers and rumored to have killed professional gamer Ninja. When people asked, “What’s Ligma?” they would respond, “Ligma balls!”

👍Click here for more Ligma and Deez Nuts Jokes

LMIRL – Let’s Meet In Real Life.

LML – Living My Life

Low Key – Doing something on the down-low, understatedly or secretly.

L Rizz – L Rizz is basically a dude who’s not smooth with the ladies. He may not know how to make a move or talk to potential partners because he lacks confidence or experience.

Lurk – To secretly view someone’s (ex or enemy’s) social media posts.

MFW – My Face When.

Molly – Ecstasy (MDMA), a dangerous party drug.

Mooning – To mute/ignore someone. Referring to the “Do Not Disturb” mode (denoted by a tiny moon on iPhones), which turns off notifications.

Murk – To kill, beat up – often used in video games.

MYOB  – Mind Your Own Business

Neglext – To leave someone in the middle of a text message conversation for a prolonged period of time.

Netflix and Chill – Inviting someone over to make out (or maybe more).

NIFOC – Naked In Front Of Computer.

NMH – Nodding My Head, i.e. expressing agreement or approval.

NMU – Not Much, (How About) You?

NOYB – None of Your Business

Noob – A newbie. Someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing or who is bad at something – often used in gaming.

NP4NP – Naked Pic For Naked Pic.

🤓 You might also like to explore these Polite Swearing: A Guide to Using Swear Word Alternatives

NSFW – Not Safe For Work. It’s used to mark something sexually explicit or inappropriate.

OTB – Off To Bed

OTFL – On The Floor Laughing

OMW – On My Way

Periodt – used to signal the end of a discussion or to emphasize a point.

“Poggers”, “Pog” or “Pog Champ” – Play Of The Game – Used to express excitement during a game when something exciting occurs or if a player performed extremely well in a match.

POS – Parent Over Shoulder.

Pressed – bothered ‘I can’t be pressed!’

Rager – Big party.

Requestion – Request and a question, or to question again.

Rizz – or W Rizz – You have game and can pull girls easily without trying too hard.

RN – Right now.

Rona – refers to the Corona Virus. Also The Rona, or Vid (as in Covid-19).

RT – Retweet.

Salty – Being bitchy, angry, upset, or bitter.

Savage – To be fierce, badass. Refers to arguments or takedowns.

SC – Silent Chuckle.

Scarfing – Intentionally strangling oneself (with a scarf or other material) during sexual stimulation to increase pleasure during climax. People have accidentally killed themselves whilst scarfing.

Situationship – A relationship that’s considered to be more serious than just hooking up, but less serious than an actual committed relationship.

Sheeeeeeesh – can be used to express everything from bragging, to cringe, to excitement!

Ship – Short for relationship. People can be “shipped” together, meaning they should be a couple.

Shook – Being affected by something very strongly.

Sic/Sick – Cool or sweet.

Simp –  Someone who does way too much for a person they like. Read the full article on simp meaning here.

Sip Tea – You don’t want to get involved in the drama, but you’ll watch from the sidelines while ‘sipping tea’.

SITD – Sitting In The Dark

Skurt/Skrrt – To leave, get away from someone. Referencing the sound a car makes when tires squeal.

Slaps – If something is excellent.

Sloshed – To be drunk.

SM – So Much.

Smash – To have casual sex.

SMH – Shaking My Head expressing disagreement or disapproval.

Snacc –  An extremely attractive or sexy person.

Snatched – If someone is wearing an outfit that looks really good or fashionable.

Stan – Abbreviation of “stalker” and “fan”; An overzealous and obsessive fan.

Stan – Can also be used to show support of a person/cause or be in agreement with something i.e “I stan”

Stealthing – Secretly removing one’s condom during sex.

Straight Fire – Hot or trendy.

Squad – Friend group. Also referred to as Tribe.

Sus – Short for “suspect. Suspicious, shady, not to be trusted.

TBH – To Be Honest.

Tea – Gossip, situation, story, or news.

TFW – That Feeling When.

Tight – In a close relationship or friendship.

The plug – Someone who supplies alcohol or drugs.

Thicc – Used to refer to a woman that is incredibly attractive, typically because she has curves in all the right places.

Throw shade – To give someone a dirty look or say/post something mean about them.

Tool – Someone who is stupid and can easily be used or manipulated by other people.

Tope – Tight and dope

Thirsty – Someone who is desperate for attention or compliments.

Trill – Combination of  “true” and “real”.

Turnt – Short for “turned up,” Can mean either really excited or drunk.

Weak – Means something is really funny. Comes from that weak feeling you get when you laugh a lot.

WIG – “Wig” is a description of something amazing. It describes the reaction you had after seeing something which was so awesome and shocking, that you felt that your wig flew off.

Woke – To be aware of or awake to sensitive social issues and current events.

WRK – Work

WTF – What The F***.

WTTP – Want To Trade Photos?

WYD – What Are You Doing? 👍Read How To Respond To WYD

WYF – Where (Are) You From?

WYDM – What You Doing Man (Mate) 👍Read more HERE

X – Ecstasy

XD – Laughing face – X represents two closed eyes (from laughing) and the D is an inverted open mouth

Xan/Xans – Short for Xanax, a sedative used to treat anxiety but also used a recreational drug. Other terms are Xannies, Bars, Blue Footballs, Benzos.

Yeet – Can be used as an exclamation of excitement – “Yeet, it’s 2021!” Or it can be used to describe anything done with vigor – “I’m going to Yeet this ball over the fence!”.

YOLO – You Only Live Once

Have a look OdinAnswers research to show how teen slang words have changed in the last few years:

Source: Odinanswers.com

Resources

Teen slang changes continuously. If you aren’t sure what a slang term means, the website Urban Dictionary can help.

The site is dedicated to keeping parents up to date on today’s slang and is a valuable resource.

However, you should be aware that it contains user-submitted content that may be crude.

Slang Apps

There are also phone apps that can help you translate teen slang.

SlangIt – The Slang Dictionary and the Chat Slang Dictionary are mobile apps that can decode your teen’s secret language.