Gen Z slang 'skibidi' and 'delulu' now in Cambridge Dictionary

“Skibidi,” “delulu,” and “tradwife” are no longer just social media slang — they are now part of the Cambridge Dictionary. The publisher announced Monday that these Gen Z and Gen Alpha favourites are among 6,000 new entries added to its online edition over the past year.

Cambridge University Press said tradwife, a portmanteau of traditional wife, reflected “a growing, controversial Instagram and TikTok trend that embraces traditional gender roles.”

The dictionary also took on the challenge of defining skibidi, a word popularised in online memes, as a term which had “different meanings such as cool or bad, or can be used with no real meaning.” The gibberish word was spread by a YouTube channel called Skibidi Toilet and is associated with the mindless, “brain rot” content found on social media and consumed by Gen Alpha’s overwhelmingly digital lifestyle.

Another entry, delulu — derived from the word delusional — is defined as “believing things that are not real or true, usually because you choose to.” As an example, the dictionary cited a 2025 speech in parliament where Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese used the phrase “delulu with no solulu.”

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

Other new phrases include lewk, used to describe a unique fashion look and popularised by RuPaul’s Drag Race, and inspo, short for inspiration.

The work-from-home culture has also given rise to mouse jiggler, referring to a way to pretend to work when you are not.

Meanwhile, rising environmental concerns have cemented forever chemical into the dictionary, describing man-made chemicals that remain in the environment for years and are increasingly linked to the irreversible effects of climate change on human and planetary health.