Text Slang and Emoji Dictionary
Before you can effectively monitor your child’s social media activities, you will need to understand the text slang used by teens on social media today. Our text slang dictionary and emoji translator will help you decipher the messages your child is sending and receiving online.
Written and edited by our team of expert legal content writers and reviewed and approved by Attorney Matthew Bergman
- Content last updated on:
- September 27, 2024
Written and edited by our team of expert legal content writers and reviewed and approved by
- Content last updated on:
- September 27, 2024
Teenagers speak differently on social media than in real life. For parents, a teen’s internet slang can seem like a different language. While the original motivation may be a short form of communication, teens also use text slang to conceal conversation topics from parents.
When you understand text slang, you can rescue your child from the detrimental effects of social media before they lead to more serious problems. Teens often communicate their struggles in code with their peers on social media rather than coming to their parents for help.
For example, they may use online jargon to express the following:
- Anxiety
- Body image issues
- Depression
- Eating disorders
- Loneliness
- Self-esteem
- Suicidal thoughts
- Social media addiction
- Sexual abuse and grooming
Cyberbullying may also be disguised by social media jargon, and understanding this language will provide clues if your teen is being bullied online.
Teens also use social media jargon in reference to sexual topics, which parents may not pick up on without knowing the trending words on social media.
Social Media Slang Words
The following social media dictionary identifies the meanings of words teens may use with regard to topics teens typically try to conceal from parents.
Drugs
Drug-related text slang may be used to seek and purchase drugs. Snapchat and Instagram are two of the most popular platforms where drugs are sold to teens.
- Addy/Study Buddy: Adderall
- Blunt rotation: Invitation to smoke marijuana
- Blunt: A marijuana joint
- Break green: Share marijuana with each other
- Faded: High
- K2 or Spice: Synthetic marijuana, a product that is easy and legal to purchase but can be more dangerous than real marijuana
- X or E: The drug ecstasy, also known as MDMA or Molly
- Xan/Xans/Xannies: Xanax
- Zooted or Zonked: Intoxicated (drunk or high)
Self-Harm, Suicidal Ideation, and Depression
Self-harm and suicidal ideation are dangerous themes to which teens are regularly exposed on social media.
- Deb: Depression
- Finished my shampoo and conditioner at the same time: Usually an expression of suicidal thoughts, but also an expression of depression or anxiety
- I had pasta tonight: Depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts
- IHML: I hate my life
- KMS: Kill myself
- Secretsociety123: Self-harm
- Sewerslide: Suicide
- Sue: Suicide
- SVV: Self-harm
- TIFU: Today I f*** up
- Unalive: A verb to depict committing or attempting suicide
Body Image and Eating Disorders
One of the detrimental effects of social media use by teens is body image and eating disorders. Of all the social media sites, Instagram seems to have the most detrimental effects on body image.
- Ana or pro-ana: Anorexia or Promotion of anorexia
- Baddie: An independent girl/woman who is strong and beautiful
- Bonespo or bonespiration: Content designed to promote being extremely underweight to the point of having protruding bones
- Fitspo or fitspiration: Content that promotes physical fitness and exercise
- Meanspo: Cruel comments designed to inspire eating disorders
- Mia or pro-mia: Bulimia
Ribspo or - Ribspiration: Another form of bonespiration
- Thinsp, thinspo, or thinspiration: Content designed to inspire being thin
The Social Media Victims Law Center has filed three lawsuits against social media companies for causing eating disorders.
Sexual Slang
Sex trafficking of teens occurs throughout social media, but the vast majority of sex trafficking occurs on Facebook and Instagram. It may begin with grooming by an older adult posing as another teen and culminate in an in-person meeting where sexual abuse or trafficking can occur.
Teens who use Discord or Reddit are most likely to be exposed to explicit sexual content, including pornography.
In-Person Sexual Encounters
The following slang may indicate your teen is planning a sexual encounter with someone.
- 8: Oral Sex
- CU46: See you for sex
- IWSN: I want sex now
- Netflix and Chill: Have sex
- NSA: No strings attached
- ONS: One-night stand
- Smash: Casual sex
- Sneaky Link: Meeting up with someone for sex but keeping it secret
- Thirsty: Horny; when someone is looking for attention, particularly sex
- WYA: Where you at?
Grooming and Human Trafficking
Some of the social media slang words below may be shared between teens who know each other, but these terms may also be used between an unsuspecting teen and a trafficker or other nefarious adult.
- ASL: Age/Sex/Location
- Catch a case: The expression of a willingness to be arrested for something, usually in relation to sexual acts with a minor
- Daddy: An attractive man, usually an older man who conveys a sense of power
- GNOC: Get naked on camera
- LMIRL: Let’s meet in real life
- MIRL: Meet in real life
- RUMORF: Are you male or female?
- Simp: A guy who other guys think is being too nice to or giving too much attention to a girl
- Stan: An obsessed fan (combination of “stalker” and “fan”)
Sus: Suspicious - TDTM: Talk dirty to me
- WTTP: Want to trade pictures?
Romantic Relationship
The online slang below may indicate your teen is in a romantic or sexual relationship.
- 142 OR 459: I love you
- Booed up: Being in a relationship
- Cuffing season: Usually a reference to dating for the winter holidays
- Cuffing: Dating for a set amount of time
- FWB: Friends with benefits (A friend you have casual sex with)
- HAK: Hugs and kisses
- Ship: Short for “relationship”
- SWAK: Sealed with a kiss
Explicit Content
The following terms may indicate your teen is viewing or exchanging explicit content with another teen.
- 1174: Nude club
- Corn: Porn
- DNI: Do not interact; content is not meant for people under 18
- DPW: D*** (penis) pictures welcome
- GYPO: Get your pants off
- NIFOC: Nude in front of computer/camera
- NP4NP: Naked pic for naked pic, an invitation to exchange nude photographs
- NSFW: Not safe for work, usually a reference to explicit content
- PRON: Porn
- Rule 34: Any topic can be made into pornographic content
- Slapping cheeks: A reference to sexual intercourse
- SMD: Suck my d*** (penis)
Sexual References to Physical Appearance
These references can impact body image and self-esteem. They may also be used for cyberbullying.
- Cake: The rear end of a girl/woman
- Curve: To reject someone sexually
- Sheesh: An expression that someone looks good
- Snacc or Snack: An attractive person
- Snatched: An aspect of a person that looks good or a girl’s waist, especially a small waist
Cyberbullying Slang
According to Security.org, teens are most likely to experience cyberbullying on YouTube, followed by Snapchat, TikTok, and Facebook. Cyberbullying is a leading cause of anxiety, depression, and suicide.
Most cyberbullying is subtle and may not be apparent by reading only one post. To identify cyberbullying, you must understand the slang and the types of cyberbullying teens use.
Cyberbullying Types
- Canceled: Publicly shamed and ostracized online
- Catfishing: Setting up a fictitious profile for the purpose of luring someone into a fake romantic relationship
- Dissing: Publicly making humiliating or damaging comments about another user
- Dox: Posting someone’s personally identifiable information (PII), such as an address, online and encouraging other users to go to that location
- Fairy comments: Primarily used on TikTok; hurtful and sarcastic one-liners that seem nice at first but end with insults
- Flaming: Intentionally sending inflammatory content to another user in hopes of starting a fight
- Fraping: Posting inappropriate content from someone else’s social media without their consent
- Ghost: Suddenly stop all contact with someone online and in person
- Griefer: Someone who uses online games in unintended ways to harass other gamers
- Happy slapping: Filming someone being physically assaulted and posting it on social media
- Outing: Openly revealing personal information in a humiliating way
- Receipts: Evidence, usually to prove someone is lying and in the form of screenshots, videos, or photos
- Revenge porn: Posting explicit images or videos of someone on social media without their consent
- SWAT or Swatting: A term in the gaming and live-streaming communities where one person will call the police/SWAT team on someone else, giving authorities the person’s real address and dangerous fake information meant to make the police raid their house
- Trolling: Posting outrageous content for the purpose of inflaming or provoking others
- Zerg: Someone who bullies people in real life the way they do online
Cyberbullying Slang
These terms may be used in jest or in other contexts, but they can also be red flags of cyberbullying.
- 182: I hate you
- GTFO: Get the f*** out
- KYS: Kill yourself
- STFU: Shut the f*** up
Parent Evasion
The following text slang is specifically used to alert another user to the presence of a parent.
- 99: Parent gone
- CD9 or Code 9: Parents are around
- KPC: Keeping parents clueless
- MOS: Mom over shoulder
- P911: Parent alert
- PAL: Parents are listening
- PAW: Parents are watching
- PIR: Parent in room
- POS: Parent over shoulder
General Online Slang
- Bands: Usually talking about the bands around stacks of cash; a reference to someone being wealthy
- Bet: An expression of agreement
- Cap: Lie
- Dip: Leave or back out
- DM: Direct message
- Dry: Not texting back or boring
- DW: Don’t worry
- FOMO: Fear of missing out
- FYEO: For your eyes only
- GTS: Go to sleep
- HMU: Hit me up, which means call or text me
- HWU: Hey, what’s up?
- I’m Dead: Something is really funny
- IMO or IMHO: In my opinion or In my humble opinion
- IRL: In real life
- KFY: Kiss for you
- Left on read: When someone reads but doesn’t respond to your text message
- Lit: Cool or awesome; drunk
- LMP: Like my pic (picture)
- NGL: Not gonna lie
- OMW: On my way
- PM: Private message
- POV: Point of view; a picture or video shot as if you’re seeing it through someone else’s eyes or a category of porn
- SMH: Shaking my head
- TBH: To be honest
- TFW: That feeling when
- TL;DR: Too long; didn’t read
- TT2T: Too tired to talk
- WYD: What are you doing?
- Yeet: To throw something
- YOLO: You only live once
- Zaddy: A well-dressed man
Platform-Specific Social Media Jargon
While most social media slang is used across platforms, each platform also has its own unique terminology.
Instagram Slang
Below are common examples of Instagram slang.
- Finsta: An additional Instagram account; generally a “fake” one meant to conceal what the user is really doing on Instagram
- IGer: An Instagram user
- Rinsta: The account parents are allowed to see
- Wifey: Someone you consider wife material
Snapchat Slang
Popular Snapchat slang includes the terms listed below.
- Best friend, besties, or BFFs: Snapchat’s terms for the friends a teen chats with most often on Snapchat, denoted by specific emojis
- NR or NRS: No replies, used to indicate that a user will not be available to reply for a period of time
- PMOYS: Put me on your Snapchat
- PU: Pop up, a request for someone to send a message or snap
- SB: Snap back (reply)
- Snap: A message or video posted on Snapchat
- SR: Slow replies, used to indicate that a user may be slow to respond
- Streaks: Also known as Snapstreaks, a series of daily conversations that involve two people who respond to each other at least once daily, and for which Snapchat provides a score
- SU: Swipe up, a directive by a user to swipe up on the story to access the option to send a direct message or access a link
TikTok Slang
Common TikTok slang is listed below.
- Blackout challenge: A challenge that encourages users to choke themselves until they lose consciousness
- Body count: The number of people someone has slept with
- Caught in 4k: Caught red-handed
- Challenges: Video messages that challenge users to perform a specific action
- FYP: For You page, a user’s TikTok homepage
- Oui’d: Marijuana (weed)
- Situationship: Friends with benefits
Emoji Dictionary
Teens often use emojis to escape detection by social media filters that prohibit certain forms of content and to conceal content from parents. These emojis change all the time. The most effective way to keep up with the changes is to stay on social media often enough to be aware of emerging emojis.
- 💙💎 Blue heart or diamond: Meth (methamphetamines)
- 🥦🍀🌴🍃Broccoli, four-leaf clover, palm tree, or green leaves: Marijuana
- 🌶 Chili/hot pepper: Spiciness, such as inappropriate or risqué content
- 🌽 Corn: Porn (rhymes with corn)
- 😈👹 Devil: Feeling frisky or naughty, usually in a sexual way
- 🤤 Drooling face: Desiring someone sexually (often used in response to nudes)
- 🍆 Eggplant: Penis
- 🔌 Electrical plug: Drug hookup
- 👀 Eyes looking: Used when sending or receiving nudes
- 🐉🐲🤎 Green dragon or brown heart: Heroin
- 🔨 Hammer: Having sex
- 🔪 Knife: Someone is in a bad mood and wants to be destructive
- 🍁 Maple leaf: Universal symbol for drugs
- 🍜🍝 Noodles or “noods”: Nudes
- 🐙 Octopus: Cuddles
- 🍑 Peach: Rear end
- 💜🍇🍼 Purple heart, grapes, or baby bottle: Cough syrup
- 💊 Red and yellow pill: Any drug that comes in pill form
- 🚀💣 Rocket or bomb: High-potency drug
- 🚍🍫 School bus or chocolate bar: Xanax
- ❄️⛄️🎱 Snowflake, snowman, 8-ball, or key: Cocaine
- ❄️ Snowflake: Someone who is easily offended
- 💉 Syringe: Generally used when showing off a new tattoo
- 🍅 Tomato: An online depiction of throwing tomatoes at someone’s comment or post to show disapproval
- 💨🌬 Woosh of air/cloud of smoke: Vaping
- 🥴 Woozy face: Drunkenness, sexual arousal, or a grimace
Has your teen been harmed by social media?
The Social Media Victims Law Center exists to help parents rescue their children from the mental health crisis caused by social media companies and stop them from doing further harm. The only way to accomplish this is by holding them financially accountable for every child they harm.
If your child has been harmed by social media, contact us today for a free consultation.
