'Internet Culture Is Changing the English Language': Gen Alpha Gibberish 'Skibidi' Added to the Cambridge Dictionary Online Gen Z terms "tradwife" and "delulu" also made the cut (though they haven't made it past basic spell check yet).
By Erin Davis
Cambridge University Press, which publishes The Cambridge Dictionary, was created in 1534 as the world's first publishing house after receiving a patent from King Henry VIII.
What would old Henry think about the word "skibidi?"
The Cambridge Dictionary has added 6,000 new words to its online edition during the past year, it noted in a press release. Many of the newly added and defined words come from TikTok and Internet culture.
New additions for 2025 include: skibidi ("a word that can have different meanings, such as 'cool' or 'bad,' or can be used with no real meaning as a joke"); tradwife (a married woman, especially one who posts on social media, who stays at home doing cooking, cleaning, and has children that she takes care of"); and delulu ("believing things that are not real or true, usually because you choose to").
"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, per CNN.
"Green flag" and "red flag" were also added. "Skibidi" comes from the machinima web series, "Skibidi Toilet."
"We only add words where we think they'll have staying power," McIntosh added. "Internet culture is changing the English language, and the effect is fascinating to observe and capture in the Dictionary."
Related: Is Gen Z Really Taking Their Parents to Job Interviews? A New Report Suggests 3 in 4 Already Have.
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