The 40 Words That Prove Your Students Speak a Different Language

A teacher in Pune recently walked into her classroom and announced that the new timetable was, in her words, "quite lit." Twenty-three teenagers stared back at her. One of them, very gently, said: "Ma'am, no one says that anymore." She had studied the slang. She had practised it. She was, by every measure, two years too late.

This is the peculiar cruelty of young people's language. By the time adults decode it, the words have already moved on.

But understanding how Gen Z and Gen Alpha speak is not just an exercise in staying relevant. It is a masterclass in how culture, technology, and identity collide, and it is happening faster than any dictionary can track.

A tale of two generations

Gen Z, born between 1997 and 2012, grew up on memes, Twitter, and early TikTok. Their slang is sharp, ironic, and loaded with social commentary. Gen Alpha, born from 2013 onwards, grew up inside YouTube Shorts, Roblox, and gaming streams. Their language is louder, more absurdist, and often deliberately meaningless.

Both generations use language to build walls that adults cannot easily climb. That is the oldest function of slang in human history. What is new is the speed. A phrase can travel from one teenager's mouth to a hundred million screens in forty-eight hours.

Here are forty words worth knowing.

Gen Z: 20 words they actually use

Slay: To do something exceptionally well. Originally from Black drag culture of the 1970s, this word took decades to reach the mainstream. When a student says "she slayed that presentation," it is the highest compliment in the room.

No cap: No lie. Completely honest. "No cap, that exam was impossible" means the speaker is not exaggerating.

Lowkey: Quietly, subtly, or understated. "I lowkey love studying late at night" means they enjoy it but would not openly admit it.

Bussin: Extremely good, originally used for food, now applied to anything. Derived from African American Vernacular English. "That canteen biryani was bussin" is a review worth five stars.

It's giving: It gives off a certain energy or vibe. "It's giving very last-minute" means something feels rushed. The phrase is endlessly adaptable.

Main character energy: Acting as though you are the hero of your own story, walking through life with confidence and narrative purpose.

Understood the assignment: Executed something perfectly. If a student "understood the assignment," they did not just complete the task. They exceeded it.

Rent free: Something that occupies your mind constantly without your consent. "That song lives in my head rent free" means it will not stop playing.

NPC: Non-playable character, from video games. Used to describe someone who seems to go through life without independent thought or personality.

Rizz: Natural charm or charisma, especially in romantic contexts. Shortened from "charisma." Oxford named it Word of the Year in 2023. If someone has rizz, attraction happens almost effortlessly.

Vibe check: An informal assessment of someone's energy or mood. "This room failed the vibe check" means the atmosphere is off.

Mid: Mediocre. Unremarkable. The most cutting one-syllable review in existence. "The movie was mid" ends the conversation.

Situationship: A romantic relationship with no clear label, more than friendship but without commitment. Coined from the words "situation" and "relationship."

Delulu: Short for delusional. Usually applied affectionately to someone with wildly optimistic hopes. "She's delulu about getting into IIT without studying."

That hits different: Something that feels uniquely powerful or emotional depending on the context. The same song hits different at midnight than at noon.

Gatekeep: To deliberately keep something good a secret to prevent others from discovering it. "She's gatekeeping that cafe" means she refuses to share the location.

Snatched: Looking sharp, stylish, or perfectly put together. Appearance-related, almost always a compliment.

POV: Point of view. Used to frame a scenario. "POV: you stayed up until 3am but the assignment is due at 9" tells an entire story in one line.

Tea: Gossip or inside information. "Spill the tea" means share what you know. "What's the tea?" opens the conversation.

Cancel: To collectively withdraw support from a person or brand after problematic behaviour. "He got cancelled" means public opinion turned against him decisively.

Gen Alpha: 20 words rewriting the dictionary

Skibidi: The most famous nonsense word of the decade. It comes from a bizarre YouTube Shorts series called Skibidi Toilet, featuring human heads in toilet bowls. Many Gen Alpha children who use it daily cannot explain what it means. The absurdity is deliberate. That is the point.

Sigma: A lone, quietly dominant individual who operates outside social hierarchies. While "alpha" needs followers, the sigma needs no one. Used seriously and ironically in equal measure.

Gyatt: An exclamation of admiration, usually physical. Added to the Cambridge Dictionary in 2024. If something impresses a Gen Alpha child enormously, this is the word that comes out.

Ohio: Used to describe something deeply weird or unsettling. "That's so Ohio" is not a geographical observation. It means something has crossed into the uncanny.

Fanum tax: The practice of stealing a small portion of a friend's food. Named after a YouTube streamer called Fanum who became notorious for taking bites from his friends' meals on camera.

Mewing: A jaw posture technique promoted online as a way to sharpen facial structure. It involves pressing the tongue to the roof of the mouth. Among Gen Alpha boys especially, it has become a self-improvement ritual.

Brainrot: The condition of consuming so much niche internet content that your speech and thoughts become saturated with obscure references. "He's got brainrot" is said with a mixture of pity and respect.

Glaze: To give someone excessive, embarrassing levels of praise. "Stop glazing him" means stop complimenting someone so aggressively that it becomes uncomfortable.

Dog water: Extremely bad at something, especially in gaming. "His skills are dog water" is a comprehensive insult with no softening intended.

Crash out: To completely lose emotional control. If someone crashes out, they have abandoned all composure. Reality television drama is frequently described in these terms.

L plus ratio: A dismissal combining two ideas. "L" means loss. "Ratio" means more people disagreed with you than agreed. Together, the phrase means: you are wrong, and the internet has confirmed it.

Based: Holding an unapologetic, confident opinion regardless of what others think. A based opinion is one the speaker owns completely.

Sussy: Short for suspicious. Came from the game Among Us, where players try to identify an impostor among the crew. Has since escaped the game entirely.

W: A win. Simple, short, final. "That was a W" means something went well. It is the opposite of an L.

Rizzler: Someone with exceptional levels of rizz. Not just charming. Dangerously, effortlessly charming.

Put the fries in the bag: Stop overthinking and simply do what needs to be done. Get on with it. The name comes from an analogy about fast food workers who do not deliberate about their job. They just do it.

No rizz: A complete absence of charisma. If someone has no rizz, their attempts at charm have the opposite of the intended effect.

Aura: An invisible quality of presence and confidence that a person radiates. "He has aura" cannot be fully explained. You either sense it or you do not.

It's giving Ohio: A combination of two terms for maximum effect. Something is not just weird. It is deeply, specifically, irredeemably weird.

Cap and rizz are shared across both generations, which itself tells a story. Some words are simply too good to leave behind.

Why this matters beyond the classroom

Language is never just language. Every word on this list is a data point about how a generation sees the world. "Situationship" exists because a generation needed a word for something that previously had no name. "Brainrot" exists because a generation recognised something happening to their own attention and decided to name it before adults did.

For students considering careers in communications, marketing, data science, or linguistics, this is not trivia. Brands pay specialists significant money to understand exactly how young people talk, what they trust, and what makes them roll their eyes. Sentiment analysis, social listening tools, and trend forecasting all depend on someone being able to distinguish between a word used sincerely and the same word used with devastating irony.

A student who understands the difference between "that's so Ohio" and "that's giving main character energy" understands cultural context. That is a skill. Code-switching, moving between registers of language depending on the audience, is something every strong communicator does instinctively.

How Futurowise Can Help

At Futurowise, our Data Science programme equips students to think in systems, work with real-world language data, and understand the cultural patterns that drive behaviour online. Our Public Speaking programme ensures they can express ideas with confidence, read any room, and communicate across contexts, from a boardroom to a group chat. The students who understand how language evolves today will be the ones shaping communication tomorrow.

Explore our programmes: www.futurowise.com/courses