Teen Slang Meanings Every Parent Should Know

Teens are extremely hard to understand, and so is their language. Teenagers indeed have slang; you may use to use slang when you were a teen.

Slangs keep changing; slang words that you used during your teens might not be used now. During teenage, teen slang words are popular around teenagers, and they mostly used to sound cool and get into their friend’s circle.

Trust me; as a mother of teens, I always have a tough time figuring out what they are talking about. Sometimes, I have a hard time understanding their text messages. It’s hard for me to understand what they are trying to say in their text, and if I ask them what do they mean, they start to say, “Mom, you are so funny, don’t you know this?”

As a mother, I want to know what my kids are up to in their social media and watch their social media activities.

But, it becomes hard for me to understand what they have written on their friends’ Facebook wall or their comments. If you face the same problem, please read this blog till the end and learn about popular slang that kids use these days; it will work as a parent guide.

Harmless and Fun Slangs

You may agree that slang is always fun and make your texts sound cool. Slangs also show your personality and make your conversation funny. Here are some harmless slangs that you find many teens using:

Basic: Basic refers to something boring. You may hear your teens saying, “that movie is so basic.”

BRB: BRB stands for “Be Right Back”. This term is usually seen in the teen’s chat room. Teens usually type “BRB” when they need to go offline for a while.

Cringe: Feeling awkward or embarrassed of something. For instance, “That was such a cringe situation.”

DEAD/DED: Dead/DED refers to something extremely funny. For example, “OMG, I’m Dead; this is so funny.”

DOPE: Dope means something cool. Teens say Dope when there’s see or hear something cool; for example, this song is Dope.

FAM: FAM means people who are like family members or family members. If your teen text messages say, ‘’you are fam,” they mean you are my family member.

Fire: Hot or Amazing. For instance, whenever your teen sees a good picture of yours, they may say “Fire”, which means amazing.

FOMO: FOMO means “Fear Of Missing Out.” For instance, when your teen cannot attend some parties, they may text their friends saying, “I feel Fomo.”

GOAT: GOAT is an abbreviation for Greatest Of All Time. Teens use the slang GOAT as “Ronaldo is the best footballer; he is a GOAT.”

GTG: The fullform of GTG is Got To Go. For example, “class is about to start GTG.”

GUCCI: Gucci means something cool. For instance, if you text your teen saying, “I will pick you up at 10” and get the reply “Gucci”, then they mean cool.

LIT: LIT refers to cool or amazing. If you read comments like “This song is LIT”, the person means to say the song is amazing.

LMAO: LMAO is a short form for “Laughing My Ass Off.” “LMAO, That was hilarious.”

Low key: Lowkey refers to something someone's wishing secretly. “She lowkey wants to drop out of the college.”

OMG: OMG is an abbreviation for “Oh My God.” OMG is the most used slang and is not only used by teens but also by adults.

PMOYS: Put Me On Your Story

Salty: Salty means being bitter. You may hear your teen saying you “stop being salty, mom,” when you say something rude to them.

Savage: Badass or something bold. For example, “you are savage” means she is cool.

Sic/Sick: Sick refers to something cool. If teens see some new phone, they may say, “This phone is sick!”

SLAY: Looking good or doing extremely well refer to the slaying. For instance, when you dress up extremely gorgeous your teen might say to you, “Mom, you are slaying.” Teenage girls usually use this word.

SM: SM means so much. Your teens might send you a text message saying, “Love You SM.”

SMH: SMH is the abbreviation for “Shaking My Head.” This term is usually used for disagreement. For instance, “The new COVID rule is so disappointing, SMH.”

Squad: Squad means the close friends group or tribe. “I had an amazing vacation with my squad” means the person has an amazing vacation with his friends.

TBH: To Be Honest means “TBH.” TBH is one of the most used teen slang found on the Internet and is considered a social media acronym. For example, “TBH, this book is extremely emotional as it’s based on the real-life of a woman.”

Tea: Tea refers to gossip. You may hear your teen saying, “Ok, spill the tea,” this means they are asking you to tell the gossip/story.

TFW: TFW is the abbreviation for “That Feeling When” or “That Face When”. For example, “TFW when you get the highest points on your tests.”

Throw Shade: Throw shade means to be mean to someone or give a bad look. For instance, “oh, you don’t throw shade on me.”

Trash: When something is terrible, it is trash. When you watch some movies with your kids, and if they dislike the movie, they might say, “this movie is such trash.”

V: V is the short form for “very”. This is also one of the oldest slang and most used slangs among adults and teenagers.

Vibing: Vibing refers to getting good energy or chilling out. For example, “This is such a cool song; I’m vibing with the song.”

Woke: Being conscious. When something unexpected and shocking happens, and then teens might say, “this event woke me up.”

WYA: WYA is an abbreviation for “Where You Are.” This is also a social media acronym that teens use a lot while texting.

WYD: WYD is the short form of “What You Doing? You might get a text from your kids saying, “WYD.”

XD: XD is used to represent a laughing face while texting. X means closed eyes, and D means open mouth. You might get XD when you share some jokes or memes with your kids.

YOLO: YOLO means You Only Live Once. Whenever teens do something crazy, they say, “YOLO.”

Some Harmful Slangs That You Need To keep an eye on

Slang words are not always funny; sometimes, your teen might even use language harmful to teens to use. Teens use inappropriate slang when they need to say inappropriate words and do not want them to get caught by you. Here are some harmful slangs that you need to keep an eye on:

9: 9 refers to Parents watching. If you are watching over your kids and sending 9 to their friends, you need to be aware. It is a secret language among teens.

420: 420 is a secret language for Marijuana. Teens usually write 420 for Marijuana, so if your kids are using 420 in their text be it’s a red flag for you.

AF: AF is a short form of “As F**k”. For instance, teens might say, “That outfit on you looks cool AF.“

Bih: Bih means Bitch. This word is usually used among teens to call their enemy or even their friends.

Body Count: Body Count is used when someone says the number of people one slept with. This is also one of the red flag words that you need to know when your kids use it.

Break Green: Break Green refers to sharing Marijuana. If you see text like “You need to break green with me” on your teen’s phone, you need to be highly alert.

Dayger: Dayger refers to a party during the day. For instance, “There’s Dayger at Tom’s house. Wanna join?”

FAK: Fak is short form for “F**k.” For example, “What the FAK is that?”

FBOI: FBOI means “Fuck Boy” or a boy looking for sex. Example, “You are such an FBOI.”

GNOC: GNOC refers to “Get Naked On Camera.” This is a red flag for you if your use this abbreviation.

Juul: Juul is a small kind of e-cigarrate. You can know if your kids are into smoking if you view text like “Where’s my Juul” or “Can I borrow your Juul for a day?”

LMIRL: LMIRL is an abbreviation for “Let’s Meet In Real Life.” Teens might send or receive their online friend’s texts saying, “LMIRL on your day off.”

Molly: Drung parties are usually termed as Molly. If you see the text as “There a Molly on Sunday at my place” on your kid’s phone, it’s high time for you to be alert.

SH: SH refers to “Shit”. This word is considered a curse, and parents do not want their parents to say it.

Sloshed: Sloshed means to get/be drunk. “In the last party, Jemmy was sloshed.”

Smash: Smash refers to have casual sex. For instance, “He is in a relationship with her just to smash her.”

Thirsty: Thirsty means desperate for getting attention. For example, “Since he is thirsty for her, he is doing everything for her.”

Throw Down: Throw a party is termed as throw down. Teens usually say, “there’s a throw down at Kim’s place.”

Turnt: Turnt is a slang word for getting high or drunk. For instance, “At last night’s party, everyone was turnt.”

WTF: WTF is an abbreviation for “What The F**.” This is also one of the most used slang words.

Slangs Teens Use While Talking About Relationship

Teen dating is common; in other words, teenagers get into relationships as they turn teenagers. Teens feel it’s cool to have a boyfriend or girlfriend, and for this reason, they get into a relationship. In fact, these days, you can find school-aged kids getting into relationships, and they usually like to hide from their parents. To hide their relationship with their parents, they use slang words. Here are some of the slang words that teens use while talking about relationships or similar topics:

Bae: Bae is a short form for “Before Anyone Else” or a term used to describe a boyfriend or girlfriend.

Boo: Boo is used to describe boyfriend or girlfriend.

Catch Feels: Catch feels means to have romantic feelings for someone.

FWB: FWB is an abbreviation for Friends With Benefit.

Netflix and Chill: Netflix and Chill is slang used to invite someone for make out or more.

Ship: Ship is the short form of a relationship. Teens even use this term when they wish two people to be in a relationship.

Situationship: Situationship is something more than hookup but less than a relationship. When two people have relation more than hooking up and are not committed, they are termed “people in situations.”

Snack: When teens find someone very attractive, they refer to them as a Snack.

TDTM: TDTM is an abbreviation for Talk Dirty To Me. If you find this kind of slang on your teen text message, you need to be alert.

Conclusion

To sum up, it can be difficult for parents to keep up with teens’ slang as they change. In this article, I have listed some trending slang that can work as a parent’s guide to teen slang. If you feel I have missed some more slang, do mention them in the comment section below.