Do your parents struggle to understand your slang? Hand them a dictionary! The Cambridge Dictionary recently added more than 6,200 new words. Many come straight from social media, like skibidi (cool, bad, or nothing at all), delulu (short for delusional), and lewk (a trendy fashion look). How did they make the cut? Dictionary editors study search trends and more to see what will stick. “If a word is being used in combination with other words to create new expressions, this is an indication that it has a core meaning people already use creatively,” says Colin McIntosh, who works at the Cambridge Dictionary.
The Cambridge Dictionary isn’t the only one taking slang seriously: Dictionary.com declared 6-7 the 2025 word of the year—even though it doesn’t have an official definition!