The words you need to know

Charisma. The natural ability to attract romantic interest through charm and confidence. Shortened from "charisma," a word that has existed for centuries suddenly squeezed into four letters. "He's got rizz" means he is effortlessly charming. "Unspoken rizz" means attracting people without saying anything. Popularised by streamer Kai Cenat. Oxford University Press named it Word of the Year for 2023.

To perform excellently, to look exceptional, to handle something with confidence and style. "She absolutely slayed that presentation." Also used as an exclamation of approval: "Slay!" Not invented by Gen Alpha — the word has roots in Black and drag culture from the 1980s onward — but adopted and mainstreamed by them via TikTok.

Holding and expressing your genuine opinions without caring what others think. A compliment. "That's a based take" means the opinion is confidently held and probably unpopular but respected for its honesty. Originally used ironically, then sincerely. The opposite of "cringe." Derived from rapper Lil B, who built a following on unapologetic self-expression.

Extremely good, usually applied to food. "This is bussin" means the food is exceptional. From African American Vernacular English (AAVE), adopted widely through TikTok food content. One of the first Gen Alpha terms to cross into mainstream food and restaurant culture.

Excellent, impressive. Predates Gen Alpha but remains in heavy use. Applied to music, clothes, food, ideas. "That track is fire." Simple, emphatic, unambiguous. Older slang that has not aged out because it still does its job efficiently.

A win. Used as a noun, adjective, or standalone reaction. "That's a W." "W decision." Posted as a single letter in comments to express approval or to acknowledge someone has done something right. Its counterpart is L. Both have become so compressed that entire judgments are delivered in one letter.

To execute something perfectly, leaving nothing to criticise. "She ate that performance." "Ate and left no crumbs" is the full phrase: not only did they do it brilliantly, they left nothing imperfect behind. From AAVE and drag culture, spread through TikTok.

Truthfully, without exaggeration. "That was the best thing I've ever eaten, no cap." The cap is the lie. No cap means no lie. "Cap" alone means something is false: "That's cap" means you don't believe what someone just said. Two words, two opposite meanings, both essential.

Mediocre. Average. Not bad enough to criticise, not good enough to praise. "That film was mid." A withering assessment delivered in three letters. More devastating than outright criticism because it denies the subject the dignity of being worth engaging with. One of the most used dismissals in Gen Alpha vocabulary.

A loss, a failure, an embarrassing outcome. "Taking an L" means failing or being embarrassed. "You took a massive L there" means you made a mistake with consequences. Sometimes posted as a single letter in comments to dismiss someone's position entirely. Efficient and brutal in equal measure.

Embarrassing, awkward, socially painful to witness. Something that makes you visibly recoil. Adults trying to use Gen Alpha slang are often described as cringe. Outdated memes are cringe. Overly earnest displays of emotion in the wrong context are cringe. The word predates Gen Alpha but they have made it the primary register for social judgment.

Excessive, uncritical praise or flattery of someone, usually a celebrity, influencer, or public figure. "Stop glazing him, he's not that good." The glazer cannot see their subject's flaws. The image is of someone coating another person in a smooth, uncritical surface. Related to "simp" but more specifically about public admiration than romantic obsession.

To rationalise or make peace with something negative, often used dismissively to suggest someone is deluding themselves. "That's cope" means "you're making excuses rather than facing reality." Often paired with "skill issue" or "ratio." Originally from mental health language meaning to manage difficult emotions, repurposed online as a way to dismiss someone's perspective entirely.

When a failure is the person's own fault rather than a flaw in the system. From gaming: if you lose, it's a skill issue, not the game's fault. Applied more broadly: "Can't get a job? Skill issue." Often callous, occasionally accurate, frequently used to shut down legitimate complaints by redirecting blame entirely to the individual.

When a reply to a post gets significantly more likes or engagement than the original post. Being ratioed means your post has been publicly rejected by the crowd. Saying "ratio" under someone's post is a challenge: try to get more likes than the original. A ratio is considered a public humiliation on social media.

A person who operates outside social hierarchies entirely. Self-sufficient, quietly confident, indifferent to what others think. Below alpha and beta in the original social hierarchy model but reinterpreted online as actually superior because the sigma doesn't need validation. "Sigma grindset" describes a mindset of independent self-improvement. Became heavily ironic through overuse, then sincere again in some circles.

Alpha: dominant, confident, socially powerful. Beta: submissive, follower, lacking confidence. Terms borrowed from pop-evolutionary psychology (itself a contested field) and repurposed in online masculine culture. Used seriously by some, ironically by many. "Don't be a beta" is an instruction to be more assertive. The framework is widely mocked in mainstream culture but remains in active use.

Non-Playable Character. In video games, an NPC is a background character controlled by the computer, following scripted routines with no real agency. Applied to people: someone who moves through life without independent thought, just following social scripts. "Stop being an NPC" means think for yourself. Also spawned a TikTok trend of people performing NPC-like repetitive movements, then became self-aware commentary on its own absurdity.

Acting as if you are the protagonist of your own story. The world exists to serve your narrative. "Main character energy" is confidence bordering on solipsism. Can be a compliment (you believe in yourself) or a criticism (you're oblivious to others). The concept of "main character syndrome" entered psychology-adjacent discourse: the tendency to centre yourself in every situation.

Maximising one's physical appearance through systematic self-improvement. Ranges from skincare and fitness to more extreme interventions. "Softmaxxing" covers lifestyle improvements: diet, sleep, grooming. "Hardmaxxing" includes surgery and more radical physical changes. The term treats physical appearance as a problem to be optimised, reflecting a broader online culture of quantifying and improving the self.

A tongue posture technique popularised by orthotropist Dr. Mike Mew, which claims that resting the tongue on the roof of the mouth improves jawline definition over time. Became enormous on TikTok among teenagers attempting to improve their appearance. The scientific evidence is limited. The cultural footprint is not: mewing is one of the most searched appearance-related terms among Gen Alpha males.

Being significantly more physically attractive than the people around you, to the point where their appearance seems diminished by comparison. "He's mogging everyone in the room." From "mog" (to dominate or overshadow). Part of the looksmaxxing vocabulary. Used earnestly in appearance-focused communities, ironically almost everywhere else.

An exclamation of appreciation for someone's physical appearance, particularly a large posterior. Popularised by streamer YourRAGE as a compressed version of "God damn." Became a broadly used exclamation of surprise or appreciation, sometimes losing its original physical meaning entirely. One of the more bewildering terms for anyone outside the streaming community.

Originally from the YouTube series "Skibidi Toilet" by DaFuq!?Boom!: an absurdist animated horror-comedy featuring human heads emerging from toilets engaged in conflict with humanoid camera-headed characters. "Skibidi" became an all-purpose adjective, applied approvingly or disapprovingly depending on context and tone. It defies simple definition because that is partly the point: its meaning is deliberately unstable. To adults, it is incomprehensible. To Gen Alpha, that incomprehensibility is the joke.

The mental state produced by consuming too much low-quality, absurd, or overstimulating internet content. "My brainrot is immense" is both a confession and a badge of honour. Used self-deprecatingly to describe being steeped in meme culture to the point where references to it dominate your thought and speech. Also applied to specific content genres: "Skibidi brainrot," "TikTok brainrot." A generational condition, worn with ironic pride.

Taking food from someone else's plate without asking. Named after streamer Fanum, who was known for eating his fellow streamers' food on camera. "I'm going to fanum tax your chips" means I am going to eat some of your chips. A word that turns a minor social transgression into a legitimate, named concept. The naming makes it funnier and somehow more acceptable.

A phrase attached to videos or images of something strange, unsettling, or bizarre. Ohio became a meme placeholder for everything weird in American culture, then everything weird anywhere. "Only in Ohio" means "this is so bizarre it could only exist in a place that has become shorthand for the inexplicably strange." Ohio itself is a perfectly ordinary US state. The meme predates Gen Alpha but they have extended and intensified it.

Something you think about unexpectedly and regularly, without quite knowing why. Originated from a 2023 social media trend where women asked men how often they think about the Roman Empire: answers were surprisingly frequent and earnest. Became a template for anything that occupies the mind uninvited. "My Roman Empire is that one awkward thing I said in 2014." The phrase captures a specific kind of intrusive, inexplicable mental fixation.

Point of View. In Gen Alpha usage, a TikTok video format where the creator sets up a scenario for the viewer: "POV: you are the last person on Earth." The viewer is placed inside a fictional situation. Also used outside video to frame statements: "POV: you spent three hours watching skibidi content and now nothing makes sense." A narrative device that has escaped the video format and entered everyday speech.

Delusional, but used affectionately rather than clinically. "She's delulu" means she has unrealistic expectations or beliefs, often about a celebrity or romantic prospect. "Delulu is the solulu" (delusional is the solution) became a rallying phrase: manifest what you want and believe in it even when the odds are against you. Blurs the line between self-delusion and healthy optimism in a way that is intentionally ambiguous.

A defined phase of your life or personality. "I'm in my villain era" means you are prioritising yourself without guilt. "She's in her main character era." "We're in our academia era." Borrowed from historical periodisation and applied to personal identity, implying that phases are temporary, performative, and chosen rather than something that just happens to you. Taylor Swift's "Eras" tour both reflected and amplified this usage.

Performed exactly what was required, often going beyond expectations in exactly the right way. "She understood the assignment" means she read the room, knew what was needed, and delivered it perfectly. The phrase was popularised by Tini Tempah's tweet about Cardi B in 2021 and spread rapidly. Used for fashion, performance, business decisions, anything where someone has precisely nailed what the moment required.

Something that occupies your thoughts constantly without your choosing it. "He's living rent free in her head" means she cannot stop thinking about him even though she wants to. The image: an unwanted tenant who takes up mental space without paying for it. Used for ex-partners, embarrassing memories, unresolved arguments. One of the more linguistically elegant Gen Alpha terms because the metaphor does real work.

Describes the vibe or energy something projects. "It's giving Victorian gothic." "It's giving unprepared." The phrase is incomplete by design: it tells you what something gives off without completing the sentence in a conventional way. From Black and drag culture via TikTok. Can be a compliment or a critique depending entirely on what follows. The grammar is intentionally broken for effect.

Go outside. Log off. Reconnect with the physical world. An instruction to someone spending too much time online. "You need to touch grass" is a gentle or pointed reminder that a screen is not reality. Self-aware: the people who use it most are often themselves in need of the advice. The phrase acknowledges that the internet creates a kind of indoor reality that can displace the outdoor one.