The increasing use of TikTok trends and social media terms in everyday conversation has led Cambridge Dictionary to include “skibidi,” “delulu” and “tradwife” in the 6,000 new words it has added to its online edition over the past year.
To those of us who spend less time online, some of the phrases the UK-based dictionary uses to show how these new words fit into sentences may look like gibberish. How exactly do you describe the precise meaning of “that wasn’t very skibidi rizz of you” or “As Gen Z say, I’ve entered my ‘delulu era?’”
Well, the 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” and delulu as a “play on the word delusional, means ‘believing things that are not real or true, usually because you choose to.’”
Skibidi was first coined by the creator of “Skibidi Toilet,” a viral, nonsensical, animated YouTube series that depicts human heads emerging from toilets.
Delulu, meanwhile, emerged about a decade ago as a way to rebuke particularly obsessive K-pop fans, but it has since become a more general way of saying “delusional” online.
It was brought into the offline mainstream in March when Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese dropped the phrase “they are delulu with no solulu” during a speech in Parliament, after two podcast hosts dared him to use it.
“It’s not every day you get to see words like skibidi and delulu make their way into the Cambridge Dictionary,” said Colin McIntosh, the dictionary’s lexical program manager.
“We only add words where we think they’ll have staying power. Internet culture is changing the English language and the effect is fascinating to observe and capture in the Dictionary.”
Other words added by the dictionary include “tradwife” – an abbreviated form of “traditional wife” used to describe influencers who glorify that role – and “broligarchy,” a mashup of bro and oligarchy, which referenced the tech leaders who attended US President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January.
Language changes in more ways than simply developing new words. Pre-existing phrases or words have also picked up new meanings, which are now reflected in the dictionary. The word “snackable,” originally referring to addictive food, can now also describe online content that you can read or watch in small bursts.
Meanwhile, the phrases “red flag” and “green flag” are increasingly used to express undesirable or desirable qualities in a partner, rather than their more literal meaning.
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