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British Children’s Slang Words of The Year Revealed

Linguists are baffled as undefinable term is among the top three in the annual search for most used words amongst 6 to 14 year olds.


School children holding their hands up

It wouldn't be unreasonable to think, on hearing the origins of the third most popular slang term for children, that the world has gone mad. It springs from a YouTube video from 2023 that depicts an existential battle between singing toilets with human heads and camera heads with human bodies. Yes, really.


But then that’s 'skibidi: this year’s pick for number three on the list of the most-used children’s word or phrase, according to Oxford University Press. The fact that 'skibidi' has no real meaning has left linguists at this prestigious learning institutions struggling to define it. Hardly surprising as, those apparently in the know, have suggested that skibidi can simultaneously mean bad or good or crazy or weird - or just about anything you want it to, really.


Examples given by children themselves on how to use it include, “my chances of winning are very skibidi” and, “oh, it’s totally skibidi mode”. Feel free to create your own expression; it seems that you can fit skibidi into almost any phrase.


So, to put a modern badge on the age group, Generation Alpha (those born between 2010 and 2025) are bound to establish a new slew of words that will one day keep lexicographers in business. But what did these thousands of Gen Alpha's pick as their top two slang words?


'Sigma', meaning good or cool, came in second place and is especially used by those aged between nine and 11 years-old.


'Slay', a term meaning extremely impressive, stylish or successful, was crowned as the most popular slang word.


Putting aside slang words, it's heartening to know that 'kindness' was chosen overall as the children’s word of the year from the survey of 6,280 six to 14-year-olds across the UK.


At the start of January this year, Gen Beta began to be born into the world. Whatever could happen next?

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