Driven by social media and celebrities, Cambridge Dictionary has added thousands of new words over the last 12 months. Among the new entries are skibidi, delulu, tradwife and broligarchy.
“Internet culture is changing the English language and the effect is fascinating to observe and capture in the Dictionary,” Colin McIntosh, the lexical program manager at Cambridge Dictionary, said in a statement.
There have been a total of 6,212 words added, the dictionary said. A number of them have been linked to celebrities or public officials, and others have been popularized by Gen Z and Gen Alpha.
“We only add words where we think they’ll have staying power,” McIntosh said.
Here are some of the newly added words and their meanings, according to Cambridge Dictionary:
skibidi
Skibidi was coined by the creator of “Skibidi Toilet,” an animated YouTube series. It became popular on social media, leading to phrases like “What the skibidi are you doing?” and “That wasn’t very skibidi rizz of you.”
Cambridge Dictionary defines skibidi as “a word that can have different meanings such as ‘cool’ or ‘bad,’ or can be used with no real meaning as a joke.”
delulu
Delulu, a play on the word delusional, means “believing things that are not real or true, usually because you choose to.”
The word has even reached political discourse: Earlier this year, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, “They are delulu with no solulu.”
Tradwife
Tradwife “reflects a growing, controversial Instagram and TikTok trend that embraces traditional gender roles,” Cambridge Dictionary says. Short for traditional wife, it is “a married woman, especially one who posts on social media, who stays at home doing cooking, cleaning, etc. and has children that she takes care of.”
Broligarchy
Broligarchy, combining bro and oligarchy, is defined as “a small group of men, especially men owning or involved in a technology business, who are extremely rich and powerful, and who have or want political influence.”
This word was used to describe the group of tech leaders, such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, who attended President Trump’s inauguration in January.
lewk
Used often on social media, lewk is a play on the word look and means “a particular style, fashion, or outfit, especially one that is unusual and impressive.”
inspo
Also popular on social media, inspo is short for inspiration and defined as “something, especially something posted on the internet, that gives you ideas for doing something or that makes you want to do something.”
mouse jiggler
A mouse jiggler is “a device or piece of software used to make it seem as though a computer mouse is moving so that it seems as though you are working when you are not.” The term was created amid an increase in remote working since the coronavirus pandemic.
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