Teen slang words guide

What are they saying?

If you're looking for a guide to teen slang used in 2024, then you've come to the right place!

In the luna app, we hear from thousands of teens and have a dedicated team of teen ambassadors who have given us their insight into the slang terms they use, how they use them, and what they actually mean.

We've organised this in alphabetical order for easy reading, and we'll keep this updated as we learn new terms from our community of teens 💡

• “Alpha”: often referring to a crush, someone who’s powerful or dominant in social settings
• "Ate": means someone did something really well
• "Be for real" (BFR): a call for honesty or to stop exaggerating, often calling another out
• "Cooked": this can mean "you’re done" or "that’s over"
• "FR": short for "for real," used to agree with someone
• "Iykyk" (if you know, you know): used for inside jokes or shared knowledge of context
• "Jarring": annoying or agitating
• "Leave": used to indicate someone is being annoying or embarrassing
• "Mental": used as slang for something crazy or unexpected
• "Rizz": short for charisma, the ability to charm or attract someone
• "Roadman": UK slang referring to someone who dresses in streetwear and engages in stereotypically urban behaviour
• "Sigma": refers to someone who’s independent, confident, and successful – example: "Sigma rizz" = "you’ve got game."
• "Sigma" or "Skibidi rizzler": refers to someone who is popular or has charisma
• "Skibidi": doesn’t actually mean anything, can mean something is “bad” or “cool” but it can also simply be used as a word or meme to confuse people or to start a joke
• "Slay": used to describe something impressive or someone who performed very well
• "Womp womp": used to mock someone doing something embarrassing/bad, like the sound
• "WTF": common phrase for expressing confusion or disbelief, meaning "what the [expletive]"