11 slang words from the last decade that we love (2023)

Extra

Merriam-Webster defines extra as "more than is due, usual, or necessary, which is still the case for the slang term. However, the slang word extra has taken on a more specific, negative connotation, as used to describe a person. One Urban Dictionary entry defines extra as "doing the absolute most for no reason."

For example, if a girl tries to get her school's newspaper to cover drama in her personal life, she's being extra.

It's unclear exactly how long the slang usage of the word has been around, since its definition is so close to the original word. The oldest Urban Dictionary entry for the word is actually from 2003, but it didn't begin appearing on "new slang" lists until around 2015.

Extra is one of those great new words that fills a void in our lexicon. Before its arrival on the scene, the closest thing we had to it was over-dramatic, which was close, but tends to have more to do with emotional outbursts. Extra is a great word to specifically describe when someone's actions are altogether too much.

Adulting

Oxford's Advanced Learner's Dictionary defines adulting as "the practice of behaving in the manner of a responsible adult, especially in completing everyday tasks." Basically, it's doing anything a traditional "grown-up" is supposed to do, like laundry, errands, and paying bills.

The word saw its first spike in internet usage in 2013, but truly widespread use began in 2015.

Adulting is a word of millennial invention, and perhaps the best word to encapsulate the generation: According to Time, it is a signal of their delayed development.

A myriad of factors, including college debt and an unstable job market early in their careers, lead millennials to hit major milestones much more slowly than preceding generations. This has created a widespread feeling that they aren't "true adults" in their adult lives, and therefore any time they do something that they believe a true adult would do, they are "adulting."

In a way, it may be a better term than the original label. It implies that adult isn't something you are, it's just an action you perform when you need to get things done. When you aren't adulting, you can still do all the things you've always enjoyed, even if they're things that are traditionally "for kids."

Flex

We all know the term "flex" in the context of flexing a muscle, but this metaphorical slang term applies that same spirit to anything you might want to flaunt — most often status. To flex is to show off, and as a noun,a flex is a specific instance of showing off.

Ice Cube was an early user of flex in this context in his 1992 song "It Was a Good Day," but the term began seeing serious spikes in internet usage around 2013.

What's interesting about the word flex is that, unlike the words "brag" and "show off," it does not have a strictly negative connotation. One could say "I had to flex on 'em," as a way of saying "I had to show them what I'm capable of." It's not strictly positive, either, but the fact that it can be seen as impressive is an interesting shift.

Of course, there's also the devastating spin-off dismissal "Weird flex but ok," a phrase used when somebody is showing off about something that really isn't worth bragging about.

Lit

Lit is a word with a long and interesting history. According to Merriam-Webster, "Lit has been used as slang for over a century, but it used to be slang for 'drunk.' Now, 'lit' has taken on a new slang meaning describing something that is 'exciting or excellent.'"

The word began seeing popular usage on the internet around the beginning of the decade. Although it has a broad definition, lit is still heard most frequently in the context of parties, outings, or social gatherings, and its original slang definition is still in use.

A party itself can be lit, but so can a particular activity or event that happened at the party. When the party is lit, it means it's raging; when someone comments that an activity or event is lit, that means it's awesome. If a person says, "let's get lit," it probably means they want to get intoxicated.

Lit's broad definition is exactly why it makes the list: It streamlines communication and connotes the overall feeling of an amazing party. It has also pretty successfully replaced the earlier slang terms "turnt" and "turn up."

Lowkey and highkey

Lowkey and highkey are what you might call sister slang terms — they have the same origin and similar definitions, but mean distinctly different things.

It is unclear exactly when usage of these words began, but lowkey came before highkey: Lowkey first had relevant Urban Dictionary entries beginning in 2016. Highkey, meanwhile, seems to be much newer — it only has one definition matching the current usage, and it is from January 2019.

According to an Urban Dictionary entry, "The slang variant of low-key, often written without the hyphen as lowkey, functions as an adverb. Lowkey is typically used to describe a speaker's desires or emotions. Lowkey retains the dictionary definition's meaning of 'of low intensity' and 'not very emotional.' However, additionally, it can also indicate something that is secretly (perhaps somewhat shamefully) wanted or felt by the speaker."

Highkey, meanwhile, is described on Urban Dictionary as "the opposite of lowkey" and "more straight up." It eliminates any feelings of secrecy or shame implied by the word lowkey.

So, for example, you might lowkey have a crush on your best friend, but you'd be highkey excited if she asked you out.

Lowkey and highkey are, like lit, flex, and extra, a more fun, nuanced way for us to express ourselves. In a world where more and more communication is typed, and never seen or heard, these micro-connotations have become extremely useful in indicating tone and intent. While "kinda" and "really" are just fine in most situations, it's the specific connotations of secrecy and excitement that make these words winners.

Shook

If someone is "shook," they're shocked, scared, or generally unable to cope with something.

The word made a comeback in the second half of the 2010s after initially being popularized in 1990s hip-hop, especially in Mobb Deep's 1995 song "Shook Ones (Part II)."

In today's usage, you might be shook from the twist ending to a movie or if your favorite artist dropped a new album without any prior warning.

Shook is a great term because it condenses the feeling of being shaken up or shaken in your boots down to a single word. "Surprised" and even "shocked" just don't have as much umph.

Fam

Fam is a simple, catch-all term of endearment that could refer to a person or a group of people. Originally a shortened version of the word family, there has been some dispute as to whether its origins can be traced to black communities in the US or social circles within the United Kingdom.

Either way, the word hit a steep uphill slope in usage around 2015, and is now, according to Merriam-Webster, used for "a close friend — especially as a form of address."

Fam has, in a way, now become a new way to say "dude" or "guys," and people have been embracing it. As people more people begin to identify outside the traditional gender binary, many are finding it important to try to reduce their use of unnecessarily gendered terms.

Bromance

The word bromance is so cemented in our language that it even has an entry in the Oxford English Dictionary, where it is described as an "intimate and affectionate friendship between men."

Although the term may have been coined as early as the 1990s, according to "Lexiculture: Papers on English Words and Culture" by Alistair King of Wayne State University, the term bromance really took off thanks to a slew of buddy-cop style movies like "I Love You Man" that came out around 2009.

Online usage of the word spiked in 2010, and has been more or less steady ever since.

In discussing the importance of the word bromance, King put it best: "Previously, men who were perceived as being too close were sometimes ridiculed by bigots and accused of being homosexual. Men were encouraged to keep their emotions repressed and confessing even a platonic love to another man was taboo. The macho attitude was prevalent, and while men could be friends, it was considered unusual if two men were as close as two women were."

As silly as it sounds, the word bromance played a huge role in the important movement of normalizing platonic male affection.

Thirsty

Urban Dictionary defines thirsty as "too eager to get something; desperate." This desperation could be in reference to anything — compliments, validation, attention — but it is most frequently used to specifically mean desperate for sex.

For example, if a guy were on Tinder swiping right on every girl he saw, and messaging all his matches in a manner that could be considered overeager, those girls or his friends might call him thirsty.

Urban Dictionary shows a spike in searches for the word thirsty at the very beginning of 2013, so that is likely when it began to gain popularity. However, the site's earliest and most popular definition is from 2003.

Thirsty was, in a way, a true pioneer of a word. One of the only words in our lexicon that previously came close to thirsty was horny, and that word is considered taboo, and still doesn't convey the non-sexual, specifically targeted feeling that thirsty does. Meanwhile, "desperate" doesn't channel the physical qualities that "thirsty" taps into.

Shade

Like many popular slang words, the term shade originated in the black and gay communities in the 1980s. As Linette Lopez explained for Business Insider, the word first came to the general public's attention when it was explained in "Paris is Burning," a 1990 documentary about black and Latino drag queens in New York.

"If I were to say in a terribly condescending voice, 'Oh honey, I'm so glad you saved up to buy those glasses,' that's blatant shade." Lopez wrote. "I didn't insult the glasses, or you, directly. It's implied by my voice and the context of what I said. You know they're ugly."

In short, throwing shade is a way of underhandedly insulting someone. Its explosion in online usage since 2011 is no doubt a reflection of a society of quick, elegant, 140-character twitter barbs eagerly ready to accept it and adopt it as a kind of art — after all, who doesn't love to read a truly creative insult?

Mood

The word mood is, of course, incredibly old and common, but it has recently taken on new meaning. According to Know Your Meme, "Twitter users began using the phrase to mean 'relatable' around late 2015 and early 2016."

The height of internet meme culture is the ability of a whole group of random people on social media to look at a seemingly meaningless picture and somehow identify the exact feeling it conveys. When this happens, if the caption is not already there, somebody will inevitably comment, "mood," or if they're really feeling it, "big mood."

The Daily Dot published an article in 2018 about how "mood" replaced "TFW" (short for "that feeling when) in the internet lexicon. Like the rest of internet humor in the 2010s, captioned photos that represent our feelings have gotten more absurdist and abstract.