'Skibidi’, ‘delulu’ and ‘tradwife’ among words added to Cambridge Dictionary

The Cambridge Dictionary defines skibidi 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?’”

People older than generation Alpha tend to greet the use of the word with despair .

US writer and artist Lee Escobedo wrote in the Guardian earlier this year: “Skibidi brainrot encapsulates a generation fluent in irony but starved for meaning. This kind of hyper-chaotic media serves as both entertainment and an ambient worldview for young men raised online. Their minds normalise prank-as-expression.”

Reality TV star Kim Kardashian revealed her familiarity with the phrase when she posted a video on Instagram showing a necklace engraved with "skibidi toilet" – the name of the YouTube series.

An earlier use of the word came in 2018 when the band Little Big released a track called Skibidi. The music video has been viewed more than 700 million times and features a dance that went viral.

The tradwife phenomenon, which dates to at least 2020, and is short for 'traditional wife', refers to socially conservative influencers who celebrate looking after their husbands, children and homes and post about it on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.

The dictionary definition says a tradwife is “especially one who posts on social media”.

Delulu, an abbreviation of delusional, is less controversial, but has become associated with a post-truth world where personal beliefs are more important than reality. Its dictionary entry defines it as “believing things that are not real or true, usually because you choose to”.

It was brought into the offline mainstream in March when Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese dropped the phrase “they are delulu with no solulu” during a speech in Parliament, after two podcast hosts dared him to use it.

“It’s not every day you get to see words like skibidi and delulu make their way into the Cambridge Dictionary,” said Colin McIntosh, the dictionary’s lexical program manager.

“We only add words where we think they’ll have staying power. Internet culture is changing the English language and the effect is fascinating to observe and capture in the Dictionary.”

“Broligarchy”, a term for the tech industry leaders on whose platforms many of these new words are spreading, also makes it into the dictionary.

Merging “bro” and “oligarchy”, the dictionary says it refers to “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”.

Other new entries in the dictionary include “mouse jiggler”, a post-pandemic device or piece of software used to make it seem as though you are working when you are not.

“Work spouse”, meanwhile, is a phrase for workplace relationships where two people help and trust each other, according to the dictionary.

Language changes in more ways than simply developing new words. Pre-existing phrases or words have also picked up new meanings, which are now reflected in the dictionary. 

The word “snackable,” originally referring to addictive food, can now also describe online content that you can read or watch in small bursts.

Meanwhile, the phrases “red flag” and “green flag” are increasingly used to express undesirable or desirable qualities in a partner, rather than their more literal meaning.

Christian Ilbury, senior lecturer in sociolinguistics at the University of Edinburgh, said many of the new words are tied to social media platforms like TikTok because that is how most young people communicate.

However, Ilbury said some of the words, including "delulu,” have longer histories than people might think and have been used by speech communities for years.

"It’s really just the increase in visibility and potential uptake amongst communities who may not have engaged with those words before,” he explained.

The Cambridge Dictionary utilizes the Cambridge English Corpus, a database comprising over 2 billion words of written and spoken English, to monitor how different people use new words, how frequently they are used and in what contexts, the company stated.

"If you look at what a dictionary’s function is, it’s a public record of how people use language and so if people are now using words like ‘skibidi’ or ‘delulu,’ then the dictionary should take account of that,” Ilbury said.