The Cambridge Dictionary has accepted 6,000 new words into its English language canon this year – including slang inspired by social media discourse.
Delulu, tradwife, broligarcy, and lewk, have all been added because experts believe the words will not be just a fad, but will have linguistic staying power. Skibidi is also there amongst them.
The BBC reports skibidi is a gibberish term coined by the creator of a viral animated video series on YouTube, while tradwife is a shortening of “traditional wife” – a married mother who cooks, cleans and posts on social media.
“Internet culture is changing the English language and the effect is fascinating to observe and capture in the dictionary,” lexical program manager Colin McIntosh told the outlet.
Skibidi is defined in the dictionary as “a word that can have different meanings such as ‘cool’ or ‘bad’, or can be used with no real meaning as a joke.”
An example of its use is “What the skibidi are you doing?”
Reality TV star Kim Kardashian revealed her embrace of the phrase when she posted a video on Instagram showing a necklace engraved with “skibidi toilet” – the name of the eponymous YouTube series.
“Delulu” is a play on the word “delusional”, with a similar definition: “believing things that are not real or true, usually because you choose to.”
Some composite terms such as “broligarchy” have also been added. Merging “bro” and “oligarchy”, it means “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,” per the BBC report.
It was used to describe tech leaders Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg attending President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January.
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