Teen Slang: An A to Z Guide for Parents
Ellie Macsymons·Mar 12, 2019
As a parent, you may find that as your child enters the teen years they seem to develop their own separate language that you can’t quite wrap your head around.
Majority of teen slang words have always come from popular music, movies and celebrities, but these days, with the influence of viral videos, social media posts and funny memes on the internet, there seems to be even more teen slang words to keep up with.
The rise of the millennial generation and its technology has seen new trends and popular slang words, that were once colloquial to a certain area or group of people, resonate with teens across the world with the help of social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, Twitch and Youtube. Within days or even hours sayings like ‘bomb af’, ‘throw shade’ and ‘left on read’ can become day to day sayings in your teenager’s life, leaving you, the parents, in the dark on what on earth it is your kids are talking about.
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<img src="https://nvc-blog.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/teen-slang-a-to-z.png?auto=format%2Ccompress" width="800"><p>Teen Slang: An A to Z Guide for Parents 2019. An infographic by <a href="https://www.netvouchercodes.co.uk/">NetVoucherCodes.co.uk</a></p>
You may think that the silly words your teenagers say aren’t relevant to you, but as the power of social media becomes more and more prominent in our daily lives, you may find yourself wanting to read up on what things mean, not only to look ‘cool’ but for your children’s safety too. For instance, a lot of slang words like ‘thirsty’, ‘Netflix and Chill’ and ‘Pied’ have deeper meanings than you might think in teen language, so it’s important that you get to know what these terms imply to ensure your teenagers aren’t texting, talking or doing anything you’d deem inappropriate.
Staying up to date with teen slang is also a great way to bond with your kids and become more relatable to them which, in turn, will probably make them more likely to talk to you about things that might be going on in their lives. Although most parents would love to communicate more with their kids it can be easier said than done, especially when they hit the teenage years, which is why we’ve created an A-Z guide of all the most popular teen slang words and sayings for 2019. With this, you can easily find definitions for common slang words your kids might say and always have it to refer back to, allowing you to communicate better with your kids no matter what age they are.
SLANG
Awks | Embarrassing |
Bae | Baby |
Bare | loads/a lot |
Basic | Used to describe someone interested in trendy or popular things |
Bent | To go mad at someone. ‘My mum went bent at me’ |
Bomb (AF) | When something’s really hot/trendy |
Blud | Mate / bro |
Buff | Attractive, of boys |
Chang | chill & hang out |
Clout | being famous or having influence |
Cray | Crazy |
Cured | A word to describe your when you’re in a bad mood |
Curve / Swerve | To reject someone |
Extra | Describes something as being over the top/dramatic |
Fam | Close friends |
Fire | When something’s really cool/hot/trendy |
Fit | Attractive, of both sexes |
Ghost / Ghosted | Completely Ignoring Someone – usually via text/social media |
Goals | Normally spoken about relationships or people. Someone or something a person admires. |
Grim | Something Gross |
Hench | Attractive, of boys |
Hot | Attractive, of both sexes |
Jokes | Funny |
Left on read | When someone reads a message and doesn’t reply |
Lit | Something really good |
Low-key | A word to describe something/someone you secretly like but probably shouldn’t ‘I low-key fancy him’ ‘I low-key like that outfit’ |
Ming | Something Gross |
Minute / Time | When you’ve been doing something for a while ‘it’s been a minute’ |
Netflix n Chill | To meet under the pretense of watching Netflix/TV together when actually planning to meet for sex |
Peng | Attractive, of both sexes |
Phat | another word for cool |
Pie / Pied | To reject someone |
Salty | Bitter |
Savage | When somebody says something extremely insulting. It describes a person or a phrase. |
Sick | Good |
Snack | A way to desrcibe someone attractive |
Sound | another word for cool |
Squad | Referring to a/your friendship group |
(Throw) Shade | To make a passive-aggressive insult at someone |
Tea | When someone spills gossip on someone ‘spill the tea’ |
Thirsty | Being desperate for something (usually sex) |
Ting | Another word for thing |
Totes | Very |
ACRONYMS
AF | As fuck |
BB | Baby |
BC | Because |
FOMO | Fear of missing out |
GD | Goddamn |
GOAT | Greatest Of All Time |
IK | I Know |
IKR | I Know, Right |
ILY | I Love You |
IRL | In real life |
LMAO | Laughing my ass off |
LOL | Laugh out loud |
MF | Mother F*cking |
OG | Another word for original |
OMG | Oh My God |
ROLF | Rollin on the floor laughing |
SHIP | When you approve of a relationship/ couple |
SMOL | A way to say “small” when describing something cute |
TBH | To be honest |
TFIF | Thanks F*ck It’s Friday |
TGIF | Thank God It’s Friday |
THICC | Can either describe people that are bigger than others or body parts that are bigger than usual. Normally describes someone’s booty |
TTYL | Talk To You Later |
WTF | What the F*ck? |
WUUT | What you up to |
YOLO | You Only Live Once |

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