Language is not static. It flexes, stretches, and reinvents itself to suit the era we're living in. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the new additions to the Cambridge Dictionary, which saw more than 6,000 new words and expressions added in the last year. On its list are also quirky Gen Z creations such as "skibidi", "delulu", and "tradwife."
To many, they'll appear to be ephemeral internet memes. But their inclusion in one of the world's most respected dictionaries heralds something more profound - the internet, and specifically Gen Z culture, is redefining the way English is spoken, written, and interpreted.
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From YouTube to Everyday Talk
Take “skibidi.” Born from the bizarre and wildly popular YouTube series Skibidi Toilet, it started as a nonsense word. Yet, thanks to memes and constant repetition, it has become part of online chatter. What was once inside-joke slang now sits alongside centuries-old words in the Cambridge Dictionary.
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And in the same way, "delulu" - short for delusional has crossed over from fan culture and TikTok hashtags into general usage, usually in a playful way, to refer to someone who maybe thinks a bit too big. And "tradwife" encapsulates an entirely different cultural shift: women on social media taking on traditional gender roles, leading to controversies over identity, feminism, and agency.
The Digital Accent of a New Generation
It's not those three words alone. The new crop also adds "lewk" (that unique fashion sense), "inspo" (short for inspiration), and even "mouse jiggler," the playful tool some telecommuters employ to look busy online. All of them show how our lives online shape not only the language we speak but the worlds we inhabit.
Cambridge Lexical Programme Manager Colin McIntosh acknowledges it's rare to witness such transient-looking slang get in. "We add words only where we believe they will endure," he says. "The English language is being altered by internet culture, and it's interesting to watch."
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Beyond Memes: A Shift in Authority
The use of these words shows that there is a greater cultural reality: old-fashioned dictionaries, previously arbiters of "proper" English, must now change to keep up with internet ingenuity. Words no longer filter down gradually from literature or academia. Rather, they burst overnight on TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube, and within a few months, they're defining actual conversations.
Even serious problems get the nod. "Forever chemical," for example, is now an entry in dictionaries, an indication of increasing consciousness about man-made chemicals that persist in the environment for decades. It indicates how language changes not just through memes but also due to pressing global issues.
The Future of English?
For previous generations, encountering words such as skibidi in a dictionary might seem dreamlike, even a bit dizzying. But for Gen Z and Gen Alpha, it is the normal cadence of their language. It's whimsical, quick-moving, and heavily influenced by online culture.
English has always borrowed influences from Shakespearean coinings to Americanisms, from colonial borrowings to computer talk. The only variation now is the pace. What used to take decades to gain acceptance now takes months.
So, the next time you hear a teenager refer to themselves as "delulu" over shipping two imaginary characters, or see someone uploading their latest "lewk" on Instagram, don't roll your eyes. It's the English language changing before our very eyes.
And who knows? In a hundred years' time, skibidi might be as mundane as "okay."
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