Generations all have their own slang. From words like “bogus,” “rad” and “bonkers” to “no duh,” they alter or completely change throughout years at a time. Generation Alpha, or kids born between the years 2010-2024, have so many words that change or get added so fast it sends people’s heads in a whiplash. So here are a few of the more common words and a brief understanding of them. Many of these definitions came from the Merriam Webster dictionary and the Bark Blog.
Aura (noun): Auh-rah – Aura is a “point system” that shows how cool a person is. This word could be used if someone were to do something like shoot a buzzer beater in a basketball game, or do a cool backflip and stick it, they would get positive aura points. If say that person airballed the shot, or fell on their face when they flipped, that would be negative aura points. Some examples of the use would be, “That’s plus 100 aura,” or, “She has so much aura.”
Skibidi (adjective): Skih-bit-ee – Skibidi is a commonly used word in the Gen Alpha slang, though there is no definite definition. It could either mean cool, good, or bad. The word “skibidi” was first used in a scat song “Dom Dom Yes Yes” by Biser King that was popular in the Tiktok and YouTube shorts communities. The term really gained popularity in a YouTube series called the “Skibidi Toilet” series by Alexy Gerasimov. The videos consist of a bunch of toilets with heads sticking out of them in a war against people with cameras for heads. There is no consistent meaning to the word. An example of the word is, “He is so skibidi.”
Brainrot (noun): Brayne-raht – Brainrot is the feeling after seeing or hearing something that makes someone’s mental thoughts worsen through something that is cringy. Much of the Gen Alpha slang is considered brainrot by Gen Z due to its cringy words and nature. An example of this word would be, “That kid watching that poorly animated Tiktok has a head full of brainrot.”
Ate (verb): Ayte – When someone does something impressive or cool, it means they ate. Almost like the word aura, if one ate or is eating, they gain aura points. An example would be, “She ate in volleyball.”
Sigma (adjective): Sig-mah – Sigma is the Greek alphabet letter for S. It typically is what a male would call himself if he is self-reliant, doesn’t work in the traditional male field independently, and doesn’t need others to help him. Other definitions explain how sigma is used to say someone is cool. Examples of this word would be, “Your brother is such a sigma to his kids” or “She is so sigma.”
Touch grass (verb): tuhch grahss – When someone is on a game, always on social media, and/or chronically online, they need to touch grass. To touch grass is to go outside and be away from a screen after they are playing games or scrolling on social media. An example of the word would be, “He needs to go touch some grass. He is on level 203.”
Gen Alpha still has many more words that weren’t mentioned. These are just the basic ones that are used the most. Generation slang will come and go and hopefully will make more sense as time goes on.